A Sentinel Darkly
by Asteroth6
Summary: Waverly has been changed by the black ooze. How will it affect her? And how will it affect her relationship with Nicole? Continues from S1. WayHaught.
1. Chapter 1

**We're all waiting for S2. Here's something to help tide us over.**

* * *

A Sentinel Darkly.

Waverly Earp looked over the spot.

She had to. She had to see where it happened. Where her sister died. She understood it, she knew it had to happen, and why it happened. But she still needed to face it to feel closure.

Plus, of course, she needed to check the area for anything important the less thoughtful and researched members of her team might have missed.

" _What's that?"_

Her investigations led her to notice a spot that looked just like revenant blood right by the old stone gate. She decided to take a closer look, considering that no revenants were killed anywhere close to there to her knowledge. Could a wounded Bobo have passed by here, either before or after being detained?

She examined it closely.

" _Looks just like revenant blood. Only one way to be sure I guess."_

She carefully dabbed her fingers in intending to sniff for the copper-and-brimstone scent of hell-tainted blood.

Suddenly, her body was moving of its own devices. She felt herself walk up to Wynonna and Doc, smiling broadly at her. Every moment her own dazed mind protesting that this was wrong.

"You ready?" Her body amicably asked. Seemingly questioning the mission at hand.

"Sweetheart, I'm ready for anything." Came Wynonna's confident reply.

And then it felt like slow motion. Her body drawing the gun in the blink of an eye, yet the sensation lasting forever. Watching as she herself shot Wynonna Earp—her own sister—in the head.

* * *

"Waverly?"

Wynonna's voice interrupted her.

" _Huh?"_ She looked at her fingers and found the black ooze gone. The puddle too, in fact.

"Hello? Wav's? I should get home and plan, and you should check on your girlfriend." Wynonna seemed tired and ready to leave.

"Girlfriend?" Waverly was confused. She looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings.

"Uh, yeah. Girlfriend. Tall hot and packing heat? Gun, of course, because she's a cop." Wynonna stared incredulously at her younger sister. "Are you alright? Because something is seriously messed up if your begging me to risk ending the world to save a chick, and a few hours later you're staring at me like you just met me and have no clue who I'm talking about."

"Yes. Nicole. Girlfriend. Shot. I remember." Waverly suddenly blurted out. "Sorry. I'm just really tired." She sighed heavily. "We didn't actually sleep the entire night, remember?"

Her older sister nodded, starting to feel the affects of exhaustion herself.

"Maybe we should just go home and sleep? You can't plan anything in your state. And Nicole should probably sleep off that huge bruise." The younger girl offered.

"Are you sure?" Wynonna was clearly still skeptical. "I mean, she doesn't know whether your alive or dead yet."

"She's probably asleep. We should be too." Waverly would brook no argument. She ushered the older girl back to the nearest car to go home.

They drove back to the homestead. Wynonna fell asleep the moment she fell onto the bed. Waverly just smiled and passed out beside her rather than bother making it to her own room.

* * *

A few hours later she was awake again though. The younger girl just stared at Wynonna. She still had the gun at her waist, a gross violation of any decent safety standards, even considering the need to have it handy at all times.

" _I wonder what it would be like. I could just grab the gun and take it for myself. Waverly Earp: Gunslinger. Just take the gun, put one through the head, and I'm the gunslinging heir."_

Her eyes shot wide open as she realized what she was thinking.

" _What the FUCK Waverly? What are you thinking? You're talking about killing your sister for fucks sake! What is wrong with you?"_

"Uh, Wav's?" Wynonna's voice interrupted her panicked internal monologue. "Your staring at me. Creepy like. And you look like you're going to have a heart attack."

"I'm fine!" She squeaked. "Totally fine! Super fine. I was just… Having a nightmare about yesterday! Yeah." _"Nice save Waverly"_ "But it's good. I'm fine now. Totally not weird now."

"Okay." Wynonna drew out the word. "Sure. Not weird at all. Well, I'm ready to work out a plan to rescue Dolls. And not to butt into your relationship, which we still haven't had the time to talk about, but you should probably tell that lady cop you survived the night."

Waverly suddenly shot up.

"Nicole!"

"Yeah, there you go. Yesterday you were going crazy about her, then suddenly you had no idea who I was talking about. It was freaking me out." Wynonna commented as she got up. She quickly chucked her old clothes that she had fallen asleep in onto the ground and threw on new ones. A burgundy blouse and brown leather jacket.

Waverly frowned.

"What was I doing when you first saw me after your fight yesterday?" She asked, clearly concerned.

"I don't know." Wynonna shrugged. "It looked like you were examining the scene of the battle."

"Was I looking at anything in particular? Anything at all?" The shorter girl pried.

Wynonna thought for a moment.

"No, not really. You just looked to be staring at the ground, or your fingers. I don't really remember. Either way, you didn't bring up anything interesting and I didn't notice anything. Why, do you think something was left there?"

Waverly shook her head.

"No. Nothing. I just… nothing."

She ran out the door leaving a confused Wynonna.

"I'll catch up with you later!"

The older sister shrugged.

"Must have been messed up by the whole thing. I'll see if she's okay later."

She slowly hoisted herself off the bed.

"I've got my own tough day ahead. Xavier here I come."

* * *

Waverly rushed to the hospital to see Nicole, again. The last time Nicole was there, she had been left behind by an immortal serial killer. This time was just a checkup after being shot by her new girlfriend's—as in Waverly herself's—psychotic sister. Thankfully, while wearing a bulletproof vest. Also, everyone was supposed to get a checkup due to the mass poisoning, just as a precautionary measure.

After asking a nurse for the location she burst into the room. Her girlfriend was already up and in her uniform, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Nicole!" She rushed up and embraced her, much taller, girlfriend in a hug.

The policewoman returned her embrace in kind.

"I was worried sick about you Earp! I heard something about grenades and a giant snake from Doc." The redhead exclaimed.

"There was nothing to worry about silly. I wasn't actually in the fighting. Unfortunately." She looked miffed to be left out again, as usual. "I arrived just in time to check it out once it was all over."

"I had nothing to do other than wondering what you crazy people were getting yourselves into. Other than a huge bruise nothing's wrong with me, I've been helping out getting people cured. The poison really was only in the champagne, and one weird basement were they were probably making it." Haught explained.

"Well, it's all done now. Hopefully we can get back to normal." The younger girl mischievously smiled. "And by normal I mean slaying demon cowboys, and my sister probably attacking a secret government prison."

Nicole's eyes went wide.

"Yeah, I'm going to need a LOT of catching up on all of this. So, is Willa?" She hesitated at the question, but clearly figured it was best to get the hard part out of the way immediately.

"Gone." Waverly sharply frowned.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." The younger girl shook her head. "My sister died that day back at the homestead many years ago. They took what was left behind and tried to use it against my family. It didn't work, that's the end of the story."

She felt herself pulled tighter into a protective embrace.

"You're strong Waverly. Stronger than they think you are. Stronger even than you think you are. If you ever need me though, I'm always here for you."

" _She's beautiful. Powerful and gentle, and just… beautiful."_

Waverly did not object to her thoughts this time, strange or not. She nuzzled herself further into the crook of Nicole's neck and, after deeply breathing in her lover's scent, began to lay kisses across it. Her partner gasped in surprise at the sudden sensation as she felt herself pushed back down onto the bed.

"Alright. Uhm, Waverly." She awkwardly coughed. "Not that I don't appreciate it but we are very, you know, public?"

The smaller girl pulled back with a quiet "Eep!". A quick glance revealed a number of doctors, patients, and nurses staring at them.

The duo stood up. Officer Haught guided Waverly to the door gently with a hand on her back. As they left through the door, the redhead turned back to face the room.

"Girlfriends, 'm I right?" She smiled and ducked out.

* * *

Waverly found herself riding with Officer Haught to the police station. The goal was for Nicole to report back to duty (and some sense of normalcy again) and Waverly to meet up with Wynonna and Doc.

"So what are you Earps doing now anyway? Should I be worried?" Waverly glanced away from her phone to her concerned looking girlfriend.

"Well." Waverly decided to start the most currently pertinent part of the explanation her girlfriend had requested back in the hospital. "Wynonna works for a secret government monster hunting squad. Actually, I work with them too, doing all of the research and almost everything else that doesn't involve running in and shooting everyone. Anyway, it's called Black Badge."

"I pretty much got all of that already." The cop shrugged.

"I'm getting to the important part!" Waverly whined. "The secret government honchos apparently didn't like how Dolls handled things here in Purgatory. So they arrested him and are keeping him in some kind of lab prison thing. I'm a little short on the details this time, Dolls didn't exactly spend time confiding in me. Or confiding in anyone for that matter."

Nicole frowned.

"Be careful Waverly. Fighting Bobo was one thing. All he had under his belt was a bunch of trailer trash and a few small town suits. The US government is a little bit more to handle."

"Don't worry." Waverly reassured. "It's not like we're going to find a military base and go in shooting."

* * *

"I say we go in shooting." Wynonna suggested.

Waverly just flung her arms up in the air, before giving up and falling into a nearby chair in a huff.

To say their planning session was not going well would be an understatement. Without Dolls providing some level-headed leadership, and years of experience at this kind of thing under his belt, they were struggling to come up with any serious plans.

"Can we focus on one problem at a time?" Waverly pleaded. "Like the fact we need to FIND him first?"

"Back in my day, finding a either a fort or a prison was hardly a challenge. The trouble lay in the journey. And we did not have the aid of your 'Internet'." Doc offered his take.

"Yeah, well things have changed. Underground bases and secret sites; all the Feds need to do is rent a warehouse and not tell anyone." Wynonna countered. "Anyway, how would you figure out where a prisoner was taken back in 1860?"

"The fact that I was nine years old when that dark year rose, means I could not tell you I'm afraid." The cowboy explained in his distinct drawl. "1880, however, I am familiar with. Tongues tended to be loose and word spread all of its own device when soldiers passed through town with a prisoner in tow. I can already see how that could be harder on your more crowded frontier."

"So does anyone have any actual idea how to find him?" Wynonna asked, frustrated at their seeming dead end.

"The reason he's being taken away has to do with something that happened in Kandahar. Is there anyway we could track that down, maybe find someone else who was there?" Waverly tried to reason out a solution.

"Probably a dead end. He sounded pretty clear that everyone else died." The older one shot down her plan.

Waverly sighed in disappointment, pulling out her folders with obvious reluctance.

"Well then, there is an alternative." She poured over her folders and pulled out a series of papers. "Constance Clootie wasn't the only witch in the old west. There were others. Many witches, like Constance, were believed to have gained their powers through bargains with demonic forces. Others used different methods."

She pushed forward a picture that the others looked at curiously. It looked to be a weathered old drawing of a woman slicing flowers over a clearly ill man.

"One variety of these were called _bruja_. Bruja were most famous for practicing spiritual healing in areas with little to no access to other medicine, or for people established doctors would not treat. However, they could also manipulate chance, contact spirits, or pretty much any other traditional witchy act."

Wynonna and Doc both looked skeptical.

"Wait, I think I've heard enough Spanish to know bruja really is literally just the word witch." Her sister spoke first.

"It is. The word gained particular connotations in North America, especially among latin and African-American populations. Next question." Waverly tried her best imitation of Dolls. Except the part about allowing questions.

"I hate to burst your bubble, but my experience with witches is that no deal is the best deal. Bargains with supernatural forces are best left to your bullet, and their head." Doc opined.

"Constance was a very, _**very**_ bad witch. Simply, put we need a good witch. Like The Blacksmith, who you might remember for having died helping us. Which was really unfortunate considering she could have helped us a lot, and was really cute." Waverly looked to thoughtfully ponder their brief past acquaintance.

"Okay, don't really need to hear that." Wynonna piped up. "How would we find a bruja, and what would we even need them for?"

"Good question." Waverly began another lecture. "The most significant incidence involving bruja was between 1755 and 1765 involving the Abiquiu land grant in New Mexico. The Spanish government attempted to rid the locals of native religious and cultural practices. It was recorded that locals resisted through the widespread practice of witchcraft.

"Not many witches survived the taming of the west. Small towns made up of narrow minded ex-city folk are not an environment for mysterious women to thrive in."

"Amen." Wynonna mumbled.

"Nonetheless, some survived. Given these genealogy records." She pointed to the other papers she had pulled out. "I believe that more than one ended up in the vicinity of purgatory. Which really should not surprise anyone by now. Once we find a willing witch, all we need to do is have them divine Dolls location. I believe that can be accomplished thanks to the badge he gave you Wynonna."

The older sister grabbed her Black Badge and briefly looked it over. She had actually forgotten about it. Apparently, so too had the agents who had taken away Dolls.

"So the mission is set." Waverly wrapped it up and put away her files. "Tomorrow, we track the eligible potentials, and find a bruja willing to perform the spell."

"I don't recall anyone agreeing that that was the plan." Wynonna skeptically tilted her head. "Did I miss something here?"

Waverly was ready for this part.

"Yes, Wynonna. You're missing the part where the only chance you stand of rescuing your partner, and of saving this town from being missiled into a smoking pile of rubble, is by actually finding a plan and sticking to it. And since I don't see any other ideas on offer, that makes me the leader."

"'Kay then." Wynonna just casually hopped of the table she'd been sitting on and clapped Waverly on the back. "Get us some addresses and we get you a witch."

She nodded to Doc, who just shrugged and followed her out.

" _I could just kill her. Use the gun and then no problem with missions and plans. Just have fun and kill Revenants."_

Waverly frowned and shook her head.

" _Come on Waverly. This is getting really messed up. You can't keep letting this happen."_

* * *

"It. Went. Amazing!"

Waverly practically bounced in excitement as she enthused about her days events to Nicole at the cop's apartment.

"I was badass. I took charge. No 'ignore Waverly but use all of her research' now."

"That's great." The redhead smiled. "They're going to need someone to lead without Dolls. He might have been an uptight hardass without apparent social graces. But he was the only one with the discipline to lead."

"Yeah." Waverly agreed. "Wynonna probably would have had a rough time of it.'

They were drinking tea and finally enjoying some relaxation.

"They're not going to be the only ones to need it. Remember, you're a member of the team now too. And I fully intend to use **all** of your talents." The smaller girl smiled.

Nicole actually looked surprised. "That was when saving the town from a poisoned mob. I have a job still. I need to pay the rent and feed my cat."

"And you can do that job best by helping us stop a mob of crazy hellspawn working out of a trailer park. He might have been evil, but Bobo was the only thing keeping the revenants in line. Who knows what they'll do know? I'm sorry, but like it or not; your part of the gang know." Waverly grinned mischievously at her.

The redhead sighed, but was nonetheless slightly smiling. "I'll see what I can do. Don't expect me to chase your cute little ass down through secret military prisons."

"Oh, like you could ever leave this ass. You know I still have at least four pairs of those shorts from my Shorty's days. I could lead you like a lost puppy." Waverly smirked.

"Well then," Nicole stood up and walked over to Waverly to whisper in her ear. "Why don't you lead me somewhere a little more fun."

"Maybe I will."

Waverly also stood up and sauntered to the bedroom.

* * *

 **I fully admit that I ignored that whole "imminent missile strike" thing for the sake of story. So what is happening to Waverly's mind? Will she tell anyone? Will it hurt Wynonna?**

 **And will you get smut next chapter?**

 **I'm ready to start another multi-chapter work. This one won't be extra dark or OOC. Obviously demonic ooze mind control isn't all rainbows, but pretty typical for the Earps. My last one didn't get of the ground well, but I think this one will go better.**

 **Please review, and please spread the word. As a fandom, and especially in fanfiction, Wynonna Earp is far from huge. It would be nice to know there is an audience out there for this story.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I am so sorry about the formatting problems on chapter 1! I fixed them over a week back, but considering how much time passed, I'm sure I frightened away most of my audience. I only noticed after I got so much more response and quicker on the other site.**

 **Also, I normally don't explain anything ahead, but considering how common character bashing is in fanfics I will warn you that the Wynonna acting like a jerk ahead is not the norm. I am structing this in a semi-episodic format. Each chapter (very roughly) corresponds to an episode of this hypothetical season. This is the classic point where the hero (well, our hero of the story is Waverly. But you get my point) lets the stress of events get the better of them. She will be back to normal in no time.**

* * *

The moment they crossed the threshold into the bedroom, Waverly pushed her taller lover against the doorframe and caught her lips in a fierce kiss.

" _She is powerful and beautiful. A worthy partner in hunting down the revenants, and a desirable lover."_

Waverly was in no mood to address her strange thoughts right now, so merely pushed it to the back of her head and span Nicole towards the bed mid kiss. She fumbled to unbutton the cop's shirt as Nicole broke their lips apart for just a fraction of a second to pull Waverly's off over her head.

Waverly could feel her wetness grow. She was desperate for Nicole, she _needed_ this, to reclaim her girlfriend after the ruthless attempt by fate to taker her away. She swiftly pulled the redhead's pants down and pushed her back onto the bed.

"Fuck me." She husked.

Nicole was momentarily shocked by her typically adorable girlfriend acting so aggressive. However, her own need helped her to quickly recover. She reversed their positions by grabbing Waverly, pulling her onto the bed, and rolling on top of her.

"If you insist." She confidently smirked.

She pulled off Waverly's skirt and panties and made a show of slowly dragging her fingers up the smaller girl's leg before they reached her center. Sliding two inside, she began to thrust.

"Oh yeeeesssss." Waverly moaned, immensely relieved to finally feel her lover inside.

As the smaller girl reveled in the sensation of her lover, she gripped onto her tightly, clawing at her back. Nicole hissed at the slight pain, only using it to fuel her thrusts into her girlfriend.

"Harder!" Waverly gasped.

Nicole gladly complied. Using her thumb to circle Waverly's clit while powerfully pumping her fingers in the smaller girl.

As she felt the peaking sensations wash over her, Waverly bit down on Nicole's neck, hard. Her cries were muffled by the redhead's neck as she came so powerfully as to almost pass out.

Nicole rolled off her lover and chuckled as she rubbed the sore, angry red spot on her neck.

"Flattering. Painful, but flattering."

Waverly's eyes shot wide open as she looked at the mark she'd left in shock.

"Oh my god! Did I hurt you?" She blurted out.

"It's nothing serious, just a hickey. I'm just used to you being more of an 'adorable little gay bean' than a 'dangerous sex tiger'." Nicole joked.

Waverly blushed uncontrollably.

"Seriously? Adorable little gay bean? Are you a walking Tumblr post?" She managed a sarcastic eye roll even through her red face.

"Well, I have one. But I just like to think it fits you. And also, there are things I would much rather be doing right now than walking." Nicole cockily kissed her girlfriend on the cheek.

"Well then, I guess we had better get to those things."

Waverly slid down to between the redhead's legs.

* * *

The next morning she woke up before Nicole.

She stared at her peaceful, beautiful face. Enjoyed slowly watching her chest rise and fall with each breath. She enjoyed the sight of Nicole, vulnerable yet at peace.

It was actually the first time. Waverly had never stayed the night before, there relationship had never even been in the open after all.

" _She is so perfect. I should just bring her into it to help me. She is police after all. Just tell her 'hey, I just shot my sister. Want to help hide the body?'"_

Waverly almost giggled, just barely holding it in to not wake up Nicole.

" _Okay, seriously. That wouldn't work. I could tell her a revenant did it, and that we should cover it up so that they don't find out the heir is dead. That might work. Then we finish them off together. Me and my awesome girlfriend."_

It took a few more minutes of passively watching her sleeping lover before Waverly even realized what had happened.

" _Good grief Wave's! This is messed up and very serious. I am now literally daydreaming about how to have my girlfriend help me murder my sister. I need to figure this out."_

"Good morning babe."

She nearly jumped on hearing Nicole's voice and feeling a light kiss on her cheek.

"Good morning." She quickly put on a smile.

"I've got to get to the station. You wouldn't believe the backup of work cops have after a mass poisoning, bar fight, and demon attack. So you're looking for witches today?"

"Yeah. I wish you could come along." Waverly pouted.

"Well, we are supposed to be canvassing the outskirts to clean up the mess Bobo left behind. So I might just be able to swing riding along for part of the inevitable."

"That would be awesome. Just so you know, I think Wynonna is going to try to have a talk about our relationship, so be ready for her to pounce and give you the whole 'threatening your life speech' anytime now." The shorter girl warned in amused exasperation.

The redhead chuckled. "I'll be ready. Don't worry about it though, Wynonna thinks I'm great, we shared some drinks. Which in Wynonna's world, is most definitely the highest form of bonding. She probably would have tried to hook you up with me if she'd known you were bi." She teased a blushing Waverly. "Anyway, come to think of it, why didn't she do anything like that for Champ?"

"How do you know she didn't?" Waverly countered.

"Because Boy-man would have hopped the first bus out of town the moment she pointed Peacemaker his way."

Waverly giggled at the mental image. "Fair point. I guess she probably figured it wouldn't matter. He would have let me down no matter what."

"Well, another minute and I'm going to be late." Nicole kissed her girlfriend one more time for good measure. "You go find a witch. I'll go prevent trailer trash biker demons from murdering innocents. You know, normal jobs"

Waverly laughed.

* * *

Waverly and Wynonna were riding from house to house on the outskirts of town. At each place they did their best to identify the current owner and check them against Waverly's list of likely witches. Doc had opted to stay home, having had more than his fill of witches for a lifetime.

"So, you and Nicole?"

Waverly knew it was coming. This was the obvious time. She wasn't nervous talking to her sister about her relationship, Wynonna had endured her dating Champ of all people. No, she was actually much more nervous about just being around Wynonna at all considering her errant thoughts lately.

"Yep."

"Well, how long has that been happening? You two gave absolutely no sign of it. How did you even meet? We've been pretty busy ever since I showed up. I may not be the most attentive big sister, but I'm _**pretty**_ sure I would have noticed you two going out on dates." Wynonna seemed curious about having been out of the loop.

"Well, officially we've been a couple for only about a week now. It happened soon after you escaped the Ripper. We met right after you came back to town. It kind of involved Nicole coming in to Shorty's and a very wet shirt." Waverly blushed very slightly at the memory. Wynonna raised a brow. "And no, we haven't exactly got to date much yet. However, we weren't really subtle. At all. I told you we were going to the poker spectacular, you caught us right after obviously making out in Nedley's office, and I pretty obviously hinted at it after all of that." She answered Wynonna's questions one at a time.

"Whoa, whoa. Wait a moment." The older sister protested. "That all looked like friend stuff. Are you seriously calling me oblivious? I'm _pretty_ damn sure no one else beat me to that conclusion."

"Dolls knew. Doc knew. Gus knew. Willa knew. Champ knew, and that's before he revealed it to everyone else in town. Wynonna, you were literally the last person in the Ghost River Triangle to learn." She observed.

"Dolls?! That ass!" Wynonna cursed. "He has literally no social graces, unless you count looking great without a shirt, and he still somehow figured it out without telling me?"

"Yep. Pretty sure he was the first."

Wynonna grumbled some more before speaking up. "So I'm sorry for being a little bit distracted slaying demons and breaking our family curse to pay attention to my little sis's dating life. Anyway, I don't approve of you dating someone like that."

"Huh?" Waverly was honestly confused. What was there to dislike about her? Would Wynonna actually object to the fact that Haught was gay?

"A cop." Wynonna looked at her like it was obvious. "Duh! I don't exactly have a great relationship with authority figures. My parole officer, Nedley—at least until a few days ago-, any number of cops across America and Europe. Definitely not a good relationship. Keeping one around the house? Bad idea."

Waverly laughed softly. "I don't think you can talk me out of dating her just so you can keep your bad girl rep. Besides, Nicole already told me you two bonded in the usual Earp fashion."

"Oh yeah, that." Wynonna recalled the event. "She thinks I have a top shelf ass."

"Wait, and you still didn't know she was gay?" Waverly was flabbergasted. Also, slightly annoyed that her girlfriend was probably hitting on her sister while drunk.

"Wave's, everyone thinks I have a great ass. I've never met a breathing person who doesn't think I have a great ass. If noticing that I have a great ass made a woman gay, no straight women would be left in my wake. Also, I now know that I totally could have landed those sweet dimples before you if I weren't too straight." Her older sister boasted.

Waverly was caught between laughter at her sister's ego, and a slight lingering jealousy.

"Sure. Let me just take a wild guess, she spent the night wishing I would date better people? Like her?" She smugly smiled.

"Okay, fair point. In hindsight, she might have been wishing it was your ass. Still could have had her." Wynonna conceded.

"While drunk!" The younger sister shouted.

"And pining." The older added. "Still counts."

The two argued in that vein until arriving at their next target. At nearly the same time as they pulled up at the small farmhouse, Haught's cop car pulled up alongside them.

Wynonna noticed Waverly's glowing smile as she rushed up to greet her girlfriend.

"You made it!"

"I did." Haught was sporting her own smile. "Covered some of the farmhouses out here on my way. As we worried, some of the revenants took advantage of the chaos that night for looting and violence. I took a few reports from the farmers to send back to Nedley, most of it will just be a matter for the insurance companies. Not much evidence to go on for which revenant did what, really the only matter will be rounding up the remainders. How's the search gone on your end?"

"Well… Slowly." Waverly confessed.

"She means we've found one that's been dead for three years, and one is a distinctly non-magical retired tax accountant." Wynonna explained.

"I'm still looking into that one." Waverly insisted.

"Yeah, that wasn't a cover identity. They retired here just a few years ago, when their grandkids moved out. Trust me officer, they had more than enough photos to prove it." She looked almost pleadingly at Nicole while saying the last part, like she had just escaped a truly terrifying ordeal.

"I expected a few gaps in my research. This is tracing another hundred years farther back than I had to for the revenants. We just need to keep trying and I promise we'll find one." Waverly was determined to follow this through and lead right.

"I know." Her older sister relented. "I'm not trying to tear you down Wave's. I mean, I'm on Doc's side. I don't want another magical crazy making things even more complicated. But if you think this is the best way, I'm with you."

"Thank you." Waverly was sincerely happy to know Wynonna understood.

The three of them approached the house, a small, reasonably well kept ranch house, and knocked on the door. Shortly, the door was answered by a Latina woman who appeared to be in her late twenties, slender with slightly unique features. Waverly guessed it was from a small share of Pueblo Indian heritage; that is, if she was correct.

"My, my. The Earps and police come together now. That is unexpected." The woman mused as she opened the door.

" _Oh we 'come together' now."_ Waverly covered her mouth and snickered involuntary. Thankfully no one seemed to notice.

"Victoria Aragon?" Nicole actually took the lead.

"Yes?" Victoria seemed more amused by their visit than anything else as she leaned against the doorframe.

"I'm here to make sure everyone is safe and accounted for after the tragedy in town just the day before yesterday. Quite a few of the criminals working under Del Rey took the opportunity for robbery and mayhem." The officer explained. "The Earps are here on their own separate mission on behalf of the U.S. Marshals Black Badge Division."

"I have no damage to report. The hellspawned know to leave me alone. Clootie could perhaps have been a bigger threat, what with having slain The Blacksmith, but you dealt with her well enough."

The three women were left in shock at her knowledge of the situation, and blunt honesty about it.

"Well then. I see we won't need to do much to explain the situation." Waverly said in a bemused manner.

"Yeah. And it means she could already be on their side." Wynonna grumbled.

Victoria just brushed it off.

"Why don't you come inside?" She smiled and posed the offer to Waverly and Nicole. "And of course your stunning sister, reluctant as she may be."

Waverly smirked at the obvious calculated effort to make Wynonna uncomfortable.

" _A low blow, but Sis struck first. Maybe she can teach Wynonna some manners."_

They shuffled inside, the older Earp mumbling something unintelligible the whole way.

The living room was both impeccably neat, and entirely mundane looking. The only possible sign of her profession was a mahogany cabinet holding herbal oils and a candle diffuser.

"What brings you to look for magical assistance? The Earp heirs have always been very consistent about following the same exact route to breaking your curse." She inquired.

"We're actually not here about the revenants." Waverly began.

"Yeah, I can handle shooting supernatural threats." Wynonna interjected.

" **Actually** ," Waverly sternly spoke over her sister. "We're here to see if you can divine the location of our companion, Xavier Dolls."

"Black Badge, Like you?" Waverly nodded to her question. "Their bases are warded against seeing. It is a challenge, but not impossible. I will need to trace his path through secondhand trails; his imprint on the Earth. It will be slow, and complex. I will need payment. And, of course, a focus from the subject."

All three women exchanged glances with each other while Waverly accepted the badge from Wynonna and handed it to Victoria.

"What do you charge?" Waverly asked the obvious first.

"Money is always good." The witch deadpanned. "I'll give you a bill. However, now that you mention it, some of the ammolite crystals from the Earp homestead could certainly buy you a discount. They could easily have absorbed some of your family's power, and curse."

"We can do that." Waverly nodded.

"Good then. Leave the rest to me."

"Fine by us, I don't need another witch up my ass." Wynonna grumbled, heading for the door.

"Really, you are welcome to keep me company. It is a fine ass and I would very much like to be on it." The witch called her out.

Nicole caught herself making a hum of agreement. Waverly simultaneously smacked her arm with the back of her hand, yet chuckled herself. Wynonna turned around with her hand on her gun.

"Look you creep. You are acting just like the drunk bikers who hit on my sister in the bar, and I'm more than happy to beat their asses, give me a reason not to give you a turn." She kept her voice even as she offered her threat.

"No, you are the insensitive, excuse me, ass making a fool of herself like a bar drunk. You sought to intimidate me from the moment you came to **my** doorstep seeking my services. You judged me and demonized me before you had even seen me. I treated you accordingly." Victoria responded with every condescension she could muster.

Wynonna held her anger for a moment before looking deflated.

"Fine! You want the simple truth, I have a problem with magical stuff, people, whatever." She through her arms up in the air, adding random emphasis to her reluctant apologetic confession. "Revenants screw up our family forever, Constance screwed up Doc, now it seems Dolls may have something going on, and it gets him taken to some messed up lab to be experimented on. Every time something even the slightest damn bit supernatural touches my life it goes to hell, and takes someone else there with it."

She stormed out with a mumbled apology, leaving an awkward Waverly and Nicole standing in the room with the bruja.

"I think she is making progress. Too bad that she must suffer such troubles. I honestly meant that she is beautiful, inside and out." Victoria offered as she turned to retire to another room.

The others politely let themselves out.

* * *

"So, that happened." Waverly eventually broke the silence in the car.

Wynonna sighed. "I'm sorry I made myself look like a jerk. It's just… really stressful. Willa's gone, Dolls is gone, even Shorty's death is still messing with my head." She laughed. "Hell, I think knowing Bobo's dead is doing it's own share. Everybody is going away Sis, just like I did to you. It's just like I've been punishing myself this whole time. I almost wonder if that's what the curse is really supposed to do."

Waverly shook her head.

" _Self-centered maybe, but I've really never known Sis to be a drama queen."_

"We're not leaving you Wynonna. You started this whole thing alone, if you don't count leather jackets. Now you have Doc, me, Nicole, and we're going to get Dolls too. You're gaining friends 'Nonna, not losing them."

Wynonna managed a slight smile through the obvious tears she was holding back.

"Thanks Wave's. I'll… try letting you visit what's her name in the future. You're good at handling people. I just fuck them up, or fuck them."

"You sell yourself way too short, but I'll let it slide until your ready." She reached across the car seat to give her sister a quick hug when the car was stopped.

"Hey, one last thing." The older one quietly spoke up a few minutes later. "Why didn't you tell me about you and Nicole? Did you really think I'd be ashamed you were gay?"

Waverly sighed. "No Wynonna, not really. I was ashamed and afraid for myself. It was a lot to come to terms with, dating Nicole. I reflected my fears onto other people. By hiding from you, I could keep on some level hiding it from myself."

"I still can't believe you would let me know you were dating _**Champ.**_ I'm never going to be fully comfortable with a cop, but _**Champ**_?! I can honestly say that I would do Nicole before I would touch King-of-the-Fuckboys." Wynonna joked.

The sisters went back into the homestead.

"Come on. Let's get drunk enough that I can forget I just left a second witch wanting to kill me."

"Okay, that has been far too many jokes about doing my girlfriend for one day. I think I'll take you up on that drink."


	3. Chapter 3

**Last chapter we got sisterly bonding and dialog (I actually don't think Waverly and Wynonna talked nearly enough in the first season. Waverly's insecurities over Willa's return were never really addressed, instead just glossed over by Willa turning evil). This time finally a gentle return to some classic Wynonna Earp action*, a little plot development...**

 **And oh good lord sin.**

 ***A more full return to that soon.**

A Sentinel Darkly.

 _Waverly was back in the police station. Willa was holding a gun to the love of her life. Officer Haught was staring down the barrel of a gun just after finding her happiness. The picture perfect Hollywood ending; at least for people like her._

" _Give me Peacemaker or I punch a bunch of holes in Waverly's girlfriend." Willa coldly demanded._

" _Girlfriend?" Wynonna was clearly shocked (though how, Waverly had no idea)._

" _Um, kind of." It was a betrayal, if a small one. Even given no alternative or way to hide her relationship, she still denied it._

" _Kind of?" Haught was clearly hurt. She noticed the reluctance to ever admit they could be together to her sister. Obviously coming out to Wynonna was her own business, but that Waverly would downplay or deny it when confronted was painful to watch._

" _Obviously Ward couldn't just abuse his family, he also adopted a freak. You can't let her hold you down forever Wynonna. Let me shoot the ginger butch lover and we can leave town, the_ _ **real**_ _Earp sisters." Willa made her a new offer._

 _Wynonna looked torn._

" _I'm sorry Waverly, but something's wrong with you. My sister wasn't gay, or possessed, or whatever is going on with you."_

" _Possessed? What are you talking about?" Waverly was confused. This wasn't making any sense now._

" _Willa was always the better sister."_

 _The eldest Earp took that as her cue and fired at Haught._

* * *

"No!"

Waverly fell out of bed screaming.

Wynonna rushed into the room waving Peacemaker.

"Touch my fucking sister and I send you back to hell balls first assholes!" She screamed.

Waverly untangled herself from the blankets to see Wynonna looking around the room for the threat.

"Ugh." She groaned. "Just had a nightmare. No revenants." She mumbled.

"Some nightmare. You were screaming like a bat out of hell." Wynonna cocked her head. "Are you alright? Is this about everything that's happened and, you know, Willa?"

She was reluctant to say it. Knowing it was a sore spot for herself still, and believing it to be for her sister as well.

"Well..." Waverly hesitantly started to explain her recent troubles.

" _Don't! I can't tell her I've been having weird thoughts telling me to murder her! She'll think I'm possessed just like in the dream, only here she'll shoot me instead of Nicole. If I can just talk her down, snatch the gun maybe over breakfast, and shoot her, the problem will be solved."_

" _No! What the hell Waverly, this is well past crazy. I'm probably right though that now is_ _ **not**_ _the time to talk this out with Wynonna."_

"… _and now I'm talking about myself like another person."_

"Yeah, I think I'm just a little freaked out. Don't worry, I'll be fine." Waverly reassured her.

Wynonna looked skeptical.

"If you say so. Maybe you could." She awkwardly coughed. "Have Nicole sleep over." She blurted out.

"What?" Waverly was thoroughly confused.

"Have Nicole sleep over." Wynonna tried again more clearly, still obviously uncomfortable talking about her sister's love life a little too directly. " Just until you're feeling better. You're clearly freaked out. I know that… sharing a bed can solve nightmares. Christ, it's the only way I slept for a good ten years. You're an adult, we let Doc onto our home when I was doing him. Just invite her over."

"Wow. Okay, thanks Wynonna. Will do." Waverly was amazed at how thoughtful and concerned Wynonna seemed.

Then again, she had revealed just how vulnerable she herself had felt just the day before. Losing a sister wasn't easy, and Wynonna had known Willa longer and better than Waverly had.

" _It'll be sad having to kill her. Wait a minute. Nicole! I can tell Nicole about this problem."_

"How about I go talk to her?" Waverly suggested.

"Perfect." The older sister smiled. "Me and Doc were going to scout out some of the revenants today. Dolls is still the top priority, but dealing with the remaining sixty or so odd revenants left has pretty much ground to a halt since that day. I have a curse to break."

"Great idea. That should give you something to do until we hear back from the bruja."

* * *

Waverly Earp made her way to the police station to meet her girlfriend.

The thought of doing that alone was somehow deeply meaningful to her. That she could meet her _girlfriend._ It was liberating, like she could finally be who she always was meant to be.

The moment she walked in she spotted Nicole behind a desk. Her fiery red hair was always the first sight she noticed in any room she was in.

Waverly really had intended to smoothly introduce the topic of her troubles, but seeing Nicole always seemed to bring her mind to other places.

She quietly slipped behind her girlfriend, not a hard task in this police station. Despite the town's remarkable crime rate, there was nearly never more than one or two officers in the building.

"Hey." She whispered right after Nicole's head shot up in surprise after feeling a delicate kiss on her neck.

"Hey." The redhead grinned and turned her head to kiss her back.

"Stay very quiet." Waverly whispered.

"What are you doing Waverly? Remember, we're in the police station, and I'm on duty." Nicole asked in a hushed voice.

Waverly snorted. "Yeah, right. Like that has ever stopped us before. Slide that chair back a little."

Officer Haught was nervous, but let her desire get the better of her. She slid the chair back, not entirely sure what the Earp was planning. Waverly slipped under the desk. Reaching her hand out, she pulled down a shocked Nicole's trousers.

"Yeah, usually in an office. With curtains." She hissed. "This is not exactly discreet."

"When did I ever say I wanted to be discreet?" Waverly grinned. "If you just play it cool though, nobody can see a thing."

The Earp girl pulled the chair forward again, leaving it so that from the front nothing looked at all unusual about how Nicole was sitting. She tried to calm her nervous flush and grabbed some paperwork to look at.

Waverly slid between her legs. Her girlfriend's center was lightly covered with red hair, she loved how distinctly **Nicole** it was, just like the hair on her head. Taking a deep breath, she savored the scent, already in so short a time she would know it anywhere, and it was at the same time calming and deeply exciting to her. Finally, she took a taste. Starting slowly, Waverly licked around the rim of her lips, savoring the taste of her lover. She greatly enjoyed Nicole's nervous twitching and made certain to move as slowly as possible.

"This is—ah!—not a good idea. Somebody is going to come in soon." Officer Haught cautioned, glancing around nervously.

"That's why it's me under the desk instead of you on it." Waverly smirked.

Nicole continued to nervously shift objects on her desk—far too distracted to do any actual work—while Waverly languidly enjoyed her treat. She made certain to explore every millimeter with her tongue; acquainting herself with every nook of her lover while savoring her taste.

She mischievously smiled when the sound of the door opening caused Nicole to jolt in her seat. Footsteps could be heard approaching the desk.

"Uh, ah. Hello, Mrs. Drummond." Officer Haught managed to pull her breathy voice under control admirably. She tried to push the Waverly's head away under the desk, but her hand was brushed aside, leaving her no choice but to continue acting casual.

"Hooligans vandalized my bicycle again! I tell you this town has become intolerable-"

Waverly phased out the woman's complaints to focus on the task at hand. She gradually intensified her efforts, spreading her with her fingers and licking deeper. Nicole became even more tense, and the Earp could only imagine how flushed she must look.

"Hum!" Officer Haught coughed. "I'll file a—ah—report. You should-"

Waverly knew the cough was a signal for her to hold off while Nicole talked. On the other hand, if she was planning on playing nice, she wouldn't be under a desk between her on-duty cop girlfriend's legs in the middle of a police station.

She finally moved in for the finish, lashing her tongue across Nicole's clit at the same time as she slipped a finger into her more than ready opening.

Haught nearly fell out of the seat.

"Sorry! I'm- It's, just… shift work. Really tired here. Guess I should have had more coffee. Anyway, I can-"

Waverly heard her nearly moan, just barely holding it in. She was clearly trying to gracefully end the encounter. Either way, the younger girl didn't let up. She was curious just how good her lover would be at holding up to her best. She slipped a second finger in to join the first.

Despite her best efforts, Nicole was just as tough as she seemed. She finished taking the woman's report, and calmly sent her away to photograph the damage (or some such thing, Waverly was hardly keeping track). Only a few faint gasps hinting to what was happening.

"Ahh!"

The moment she heard the sound of the door shut, Nicole let out a drawn out moan, and Waverly felt her clenching around her fingers.

The Earp girl slipped out from under the desk. She wiped off the ample essence of Nicole from her chin and made a little show of licking it off while the redhead recovered.

"If I had known" She continued to pant slightly. "that you were so dangerous, I should have stayed out of Purgatory."

"But you wouldn't have." Waverly confidently cocked her chin.

"Hell no. You're the best thing that's ever going to happen to me." The cop mopped her brow. "Here, let me show you."

Nicole pulled the smaller woman into a tight embrace, she hoisted her up letting Waverly lock her legs around the redhead's hips to hold herself up while their lips connected. Nicole walked them into the station's office and quickly knocked the door shut. Without even pulling out of their kiss, she swept papers to the side of the desk and gently laid the Earp girl on her back.

Without a word, she hitched up Waverly's skirt, pulled her panties aside, and slid a finger into her; feeling her wetness and knowing she was more than ready.

Waverly moaned at the feeling of her lover inside her again.

" _She is a worthy mate. At the same time so beautiful, powerful, and loyal. Few souls could ever hope to be worthy of such a partner."_

Waverly was so absorbed in Nicole as to barely notice her thoughts, and certainly didn't let them distract her.

Haught began a rapid pace of fingering her, increasing to two, then three digits in Waverly's tight passage. She could sense her lover wanted it rough and passionate, exactly like last time. After working her up that way for a little while, Nicole pushed down with her thumb applying pressure to her clit, rapidly bringing Waverly to a climax with a loud cry.

The two spent a few minutes winding down. Nicole sat on the office' couch. Waverly just caught her breath, still lying on the desk.

"We **really** need to find a better place to do this. Using Nedley's office is begging for the kind of embarrassing scene I really don't need in my life." Nicole, still slightly out of breath, observed.

Waverly thought about it for a moment. "Okay, so I will admit being caught by Nedley might just be the last thing I would want to happen while having sex."

Suddenly she remembered what she came here for.

"Oh! I need to talk to you about something. In private. It's important." She quickly, albeit awkwardly, explained.

Nicole looked intrigued, and chuckled. "I think we're already in private Waverly. Or at least I sure hope we are."

The Earp girl looked around nervously.

"Sure, but like you said, maybe we should start looking for somewhere else private."

"Alright. Alright. Let's go out to my car for now. I can't exactly ditch work as a cop." She smiled.

The duo walked out to Nicole's car. Waverly continued to scan the area, paranoid of anyone spying on them. Nicole was curious what news could be setting her so much on edge.

"So," Waverly started after they both sat down. "I've been having a bit of a… problem."

Nicole raised a brow. "Should I be concerned? Wait, are you in danger?"

Waverly did love how protective, yet not overbearing Nicole was.

"No. Well, sort of? I should start at the beginning." She took a deep breath before launching into her explanation.

"After Wynonna stopped whatever it was trying to break into the triangle from succeeding, I showed up and started looking around. The thing is, I don't remember what I found. I do know I had a weird vision of shooting my sister though. When I came too, nothing was there. Ever since then, I've been having weird thoughts. Like, totally out of the blue I'll start thinking about how the situation at hand can be used to kill Wynonna. As in, 'Hey, I just woke up and it looks like a great day to kill Wynonna!'. Or, 'What a cute mug. I could totally kill Wynonna with that.'. Or of course the old, 'Aw! That's such an adorable puppy. I wonder if it would help me kill Wynonna.'. And today I had another nightmare, only this one seemed to let slip that I'm possessed. I mean, literally I think the nightmare actually accidentally told me I'm possessed. I don't know, but it was definitely trying to make me paranoid about my sister."

Nicole went through various stages of shock and curiosity through the course of Waverly's story.

"So you think something brought in by Willa's breach of the triangle is trying to use you to kill Wynonna. Why? Could it be so you become the heir and can walk the revenants out?" She pondered.

"I doubt it. It actually seems to want me to finish the job and kill the revenants. I guess it could possibly try to trick me once I'm the heir though." Waverly reasoned.

" _Can_ it control you in any way? Is there any risk of it harming you or your sister?" Officer Haught's police instincts kicked in. She tried to determine the potential threat this thing held.

"Not that I've seen. It must have some plan, unless it's just to see if I ignore it long enough that I off Wynonna one day. Really, it actually feels like my own thoughts. Not as if someone outside is talking into my head. So it's hard to tell what it can do."

"Please don't freak out or take this the wrong way, but are you absolutely certain this is a supernatural problem?" Nicole was obviously trying to tread carefully. "You're sister died, and trauma can manifest in weird ways. I have seen enough that I absolutely believe you if you think this is a possession though."

"I've thought about it. A lot." The Earp admitted. "The thing is, it just doesn't add up. I don't feel weird, I sure as hell don't blame Wynonna, and I haven't noticed any symptoms of depression. I know I'm not in any shape to self diagnose the voices in my head, but even if it is talking like me, something is messing with me."

" _You could just tell her that you think killing Wynonna would be the easiest way to solve the problem. She would be shocked, but she would understand."_

Waverly sighed. "Like right now. I'm actually analyzing how this conversation could be turned to asking you to help kill my sister. It weirdly seems to like you. I'm frequently asking myself to bring you along. Seems you can charm to anything around me."

Nicole at first seemed puzzled, then her eyes shot wide open and she recoiled slightly in horror.

"And this happened day before yesterday?" Nicole tensely asked.

"Yeah?" Waverly noticed her tension and felt confused. Sure this was bizarre, but hardly worse than anything she had said already.

"Shit Waverly! I- You-" She stumbled over her words. "I was making love to a demon! You didn't think it was important to tell me you were sharing me with a possessing spirit?!" The redhead was obviously upset and disturbed.

"You were making love to me, Nicole." Waverly spoke with determination. "This thing in my head doesn't control me, and it certainly doesn't affect any of my feelings for you."

Nicole shook her head. "Waverly, I've been kept in the dark about a hell of a lot of things recently, and some of that hurt. I can deal with most of that though. But some things are not the sort of stuff you can hand wave as 'need to know'. You knew you were possessed, whatever is in you could have seen, or even felt, what was happening. That wasn't very different from filming it without my permission."

"I'm sorry. I didn't really understand what was happening. Yesterday I was still far from sure what it was, and possession didn't top my list. Today, I literally came here just to tell you. I just became a little… distracted." Waverly tried to explain.

Nicole just wearily sighed.

"Are you-?" Waverly let the question hang in the air.

"No." Haught shook her head. "I meant what I said. You're still the best thing to happen to me. This just… makes things complicated. You're going to need to get this possession problem solved, and be a lot quicker to share. And absolutely no more sex until then."

Waverly suddenly looked very disappointed. She didn't protest though, not with Nicole's face still soured by betrayal. Instead, she just felt guilty.

"Maybe the bruja can help. She should be able to answer whether you are possessed at least." The officer suggested.

"That's a great idea!" Waverly enthused. "I can-"

She was cut off before she could finish by the sound of glass loudly crashing at the police station, just out of view of where they were parked.

Both women rushed out of the car to the front of the building. The first thing they saw was the glass door completely shattered and the frame bent out of shape. The next thing they saw was Wynonna Earp sprawled across the floor of the station.

"Doc and I found some revenants. The mean burly biker types I hadn't really bothered with yet." She offered, after groaning and brushing some of the glass off.

Waverly suddenly saw Nicole pulled away by someone who had come up behind them.

"Oh hey, that's them." She helpfully observed while struggling to stand up again.

Turning around, the younger Earp girl saw three revenants, at least presumably all three were revenants. A very large, burly goateed man in a leather jacket—the one currently grabbing Nicole from behind-and two somewhat smaller, but similarly attired men standing behind him. One of the others had a shotgun on his back.

"Well if it is not Waverly Earp, **and** the carpet munching cop she's knocking butch boots with. Killing you is going to screw the heir up real nice." Nicole's captor boasted.

Before he could make good on his promise though, he found his legs kicked out from under him and his arm grabbed and twisted to the point of breaking on the way down.

"Really? You think a fully trained modern cop can't handle a drunken reject from 1880? I honestly don't know how you wasted 130 years so badly even out here." Nicole taunted while keeping him pinned by his arm.

The one with a shotgun made a lunge for Waverly. She tried to dodge, but like most revenants he didn't lack for basic physical speed, just the brains to do anything with it.

"Oh girlie. Back in my day, we'd teach you the value of a real hard dick and you'd never look back." He threatened as he forcefully grabbed her and pressed the shotgun to her back.

The loud crack of a shot rang out. Waverly twisted to look as his grip loosened and just barely saw him tumbling to the ground, grasping his shoulder before a second bullet hit him—this time clearly from Wynonna—and the familiar flaming gate to Hell opened beneath his feet.

Waverly grabbed his fallen shotgun and before the third could even react shot him clean through the right shoulder, flinging his crumpled body into the side of the building.

"Yeah, I've already tried it. Lord knows that was the only thing in life Champ **didn't** lack for." Waverly dryly commented.

"Well I do declare. Excellent teamwork ladies." Waverly saw Doc casually holstering his gun while approaching them. Clearly, he was the source of the first shot.

"Yeah. Thanks for that." Wynonna walked out of the, newly doorless, station; still clearly unsteady on her feet.

"No problem. Just doing my job." Nicole shrugged. "Could you try to keep it out of town in the future though? Doesn't really give us a good image this way."

"Oh, sorry about that. Totally my fault that inebriated demon bikers couldn't choose to drag me and toss me like the morning paper in a more private place." Wynonna snarked.

"Wait, they dragged you with their bikes? How are you so unhurt?" Waverly asked incredulously,

"Dude, I ran with like, three biker gangs. And stole from two of them. You gotta figure stuff like that out ahead of time if you want to live. It's actually all in how you prop yourself with your shoes. Boots are definitely a lifesaver." Wynonna explained to the other women's shocked faces.

"I would have said she was lying too, but I just had the interesting experience of watching for myself and can tell you she is speaking the truth. Not that I didn't get a dragging myself once, but that was from a much slower steed." Doc vouched for her.

"This is all interesting, but would you mind cleaning these up before more passersby get an eyeful of me pinning a guy by his dying buddy?" Nicole suggested. "It's really not good for my job."

Wynonna gave her the usual eye roll. "Yeah, whatever. Let's take them out back."

She proceeded to drag the shotgunned one.

"Cops." She mumbled before remembering who she was mumbling about. "Sorry, force of habit."

* * *

After the cleanup, and a little drinking, Wynonna and Doc returned to the homestead. Ostensibly to "patch up her wounds". Waverly was sure that was going to be an interesting application of medicine. She herself split of to visit Victoria again. It wasn't hard, unsurprisingly, her sister was more than happy for the privacy.

When she found herself standing outside the house again, she was almost afraid to knock for fear of what she might find if the bruja did agree to help.

Screwing up all her courage, the Earp knocked.

"Yes? Oh, it is you. Do not fear, I am making progress. You must be patient to follow these trails." The witch seemed little surprised at the visit.

"No, it's not about the Dolls case. I'm… I'm actually here for myself." She explained.

"Yourself? Or the one you are hosting?" The witch wryly smiled.

"You knew?! And that means I am possessed. Why couldn't you have just told me?" Waverly demanded.

"Of course I knew. And it was none of my business. Many possessions are benign. Some are even wiling. I make a point never to pry into a spirit unless the client asks. Yours did alarm me a little, it appears strange and powerful. Not like a human, but not worth breaking a professional policy to pry into." Victoria explained.

"Well it's not benign or willing. It is trying to use me to kill my sister though. Can you get rid of it?" She asked.

"That sounds like a goal of vengeance. I can most likely rid you of the spirit. Let me address it, and then I will see how to cure you." The bruja offered.

"Thank you." Waverly was relieved to see an end to this strange nightmare in sight.

Victoria led her into a small room, presumably intended as a study. However, it was instead stocked with an eclectic mix of materials and tools suggestive of magic. The ground was patterned with what Waverly recognized from her own extensive research as protective sigils.

"Please sit down." She instructed Waverly, who promptly listened. Seeing no chair, she sat on the floor.

The bruja then began her ritual. There were numerous steps, most of which Waverly paid only minimal attention to (it felt almost like spying), and some of which required her to close her eyes anyway. Of note included mixing specific herbs in a small metal bowl, lighting them on fire, and dusting Waverly with the ashes.

" _Wait, is it over? Where am I?"_

Waverly could not remember the ritual actually ending. Nor, for that matter, could she remember talking about the results afterwards. It was like she fell asleep was just waking up now.

Apparently back at the homestead, in the living room specifically; judging by the usual mess she was looking over. Everything was familiar, but her being there didn't add up.

"Oh, hey Wave's." Wynonna casually walked into the room.

"Thank goodness! Did you drop me off here? What new ridiculous magical nonsense happened to mean I missed my own exorcism!" She rather indignantly exclaimed, honestly offended to have missed what promised to be an interesting discovery at the very least.

"Wow, calm down Wave's." Wynonna smiled and held her hands out in a stopping motion. "One question at a time. And why are you holding a gun anyway?" She pointed curiously at Waverly's hand.

The younger Earp looked down to find that, strangely, she was holding a pistol. Before she even had a moment to think about it, her hand followed what felt like a natural course and shot Wynonna in the head.

"Ah!"

* * *

Waverly snapped out of it with a scream to find herself back in Victoria's room. The bruja looked frightened.

"What was that?! And why do you look just as freaked out as me? Because that seems like it's probably a bad sign." The Earp frantically questioned.

"The creature possessing you is no ordinary spirit, nor a spirit at all for that matter." Victoria cautiously began explaining. I believe it to be a creature of Hell. A sort of keeper of the gate often called The Sentinel."

"Wait a minute, I'm being possessed by Saint Peter's downstairs counterpart?" Waverly was not one to feel lost, but this was a little overwhelming to take in.

"Not the most accurate assessment I'm afraid. Saint Peter is traditionally described as caring mostly about the outside coming in, letting the good in, and presumably by extension sending the bad away. This creature cares about what is inside going out. She ensures that no corrupt souls escape hell, and tirelessly hunt those who do." She finished her explanation.

"That explains the barrier, and what Wynonna saw. This Sentinel was kept out to ensure the curse wouldn't just be broken without the Earps ever having to worry about it." Waverly reasoned.

"At least in part, yes." Victoria nodded. "The creature you saw was a familiar of The Sentinel. I'm afraid that even I cannot answer all of the questions I'm sure you have, but I do believe that once you touched the blood trapped inside the barrier it attempted to transfer the familiar bond to you. You are her instrument inside the Ghost River Triangle, but for the barrier preventing her from truly controlling you."

"Ooohh shit." She began to panic, suddenly pacing around the small room. "I'm possessed by a crazy powerful demon. It wants to kill my sister. And now I can't even leave town if I want to. Which, let's be honest, I probably am at some point. Can't you just send it back home somehow? There's got to be some ancient ritual somewhere."

"I could not even talk to it. Calling it into the forefront would be too likely to give it control over you. The only possible way I know to exorcise it would be to encounter her personally and either convince or force her to depart you." The bruja explained.

"So basically, I'm doomed." Waverly huffed.

"Not entirely. Here." She handed her what appeared to be small, balled bundles of dried plants. "Consuming these will temporarily suppress its possession of you. Only use them when you must, but they can grant you privacy from its prying eyes, or freedom should it begin to gain some level of control over you."

"Well, thank you. I guess I have to make the best of it." She offered a resigned thanks.

"Oh, and you should bring your wife and beautiful sister tomorrow.. I'm confident I have found your friend." Victoria offered.

Waverly suddenly choked. "Uh, we're not married. Technically, we haven't even gone on a date yet. That didn't end in poison mobs at least."

"My apologies. She was wearing a ring, and you clearly were together. Right-hand wedding rings are not conventional among Americans, but neither are Earps." She apologized.

"No problem. I'll bring them." Waverly shrugged it off and Victoria walked her to the door.

 **Again, please read, review, and most importantly pass it along.**

 **Remember, Wynonna Earp season 1 had depressingly low ratings. I'm not egotistical enough to believe my writing fanfiction is helping save it. But keeping an active fandom alive will! So even if this one doesn't fit your tastes, go find another one, leave an encouraging word for them, and please pass the word along.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Wynonna Earp Season 2 is on!**

 **Yeah, this chapter is late. So crazy late that the point of this story is technically kind of passed. Not that I mind. Ep. 1 and Eliza (Rachel Skarsten) were awesome. Even though I think Wynonna is best straight, their flirting and chemistry was hilarious and hot. Ep.2 was a little muddled. Either way, I'm going to stick with my original plot and outline, but a few elements from season 2 may slip in here and there.**

 **Also, you should all look up the ratings. It lost 30% of its viewership as compared to season 1. Were looking at 0.09 viewer share. Enjoy the ride while it lasts folks.**

* * *

.

 _Waverly found herself back at the homestead alone._

" _Not again." This time she was ready. "You're not going to sell me on more fake horrible memories. My sister loves me. She could not conceivably care less if I'm bi. She has no intention of killing me or abandoning me. You want me to scream it to the heavens? Fine."_

" _Hey!" She exaggeratedly shouted up at the ceiling. "I have a healthy loving relationship with my family! And you know what?" She returned to speaking in a calmer voice. "Yes, I may have been jealous of Willa, but I got over it. So go find someone else to do your dirty work."_

 _The dream sat unchanging after her speech for a few moments. Then the form of Willa appeared in front of her. She was as she looked in the barn that day with Nicole._

" _You're one of the… gays?" It said the same thing Willa had._

 _Waverly rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I think we've established that. You met my girlfriend, remember?"_

" _Do you truly believe that if Wynonna had wandered into that barn instead of Willa she would have reacted any better? She 'accepts' you because you're the only sister she has left. You heard what she and Willa were talking about in the barn, it was always them. You are just a poor man's Willa, and the_ _ **moment**_ _she accepts that you're not her sister—her real sister—she will leave you again." The spirit taunted her._

 _She felt the sting of its words. It shouldn't have been surprising that something inside of her head was so adept at hitting her where it hurt, but that did little to prepare her. The truth was that Willa always had been Wynonna's real sister. Waverly was still far too young before Willa was taken, and they were never a real, complete family again afterwards anyway._

 _She was just living a dream. Bringing herself together with a sister she never really had._

 _The visage began to smile. It could sense her feelings, follow her train of thought at least partially._

" _What are you smiling about? Sure, I'm making myself a dream family: Reliving a childhood that I never got to have because of demons like you. And I'm not ashamed of one single damned bit of that. I will have embarrassing late night confessions with my sister. I will do stupid, irresponsible things. I will be goaded into making uncomfortable confessions about my dating life. If she didn't see me as a sister before, then she will now, because I love her as one. And if she leaves, then I can live with that, because eventually sisters grow up and move away. God knows Wynonna needs to grow up eventually." She chuckled. "Maybe giving her the family she deserved will help do just that."_

" _If that is what you tell yourself." The mused. "But then, why did you kill her?"_

 _Waverly looked around confused. Lying at her feet was her sister, a bullet hole in her head._

* * *

"Ah!"

Once again, she rolled out of bed with a scream. And once again, Wynonna burs into the room. This time she seemed more prepared, just exhaustedly scanning the room with the ridiculously long barrel of Peacemaker.

"Seriously? Again? I guess you couldn't arrange things with Nicole?" She shook her head.

"Uh, well… Let's just say there were some issues." The younger sister awkwardly confessed.

"Really? 'Issues'? Do I have to have a 'talk' with her?" Wynonna offered.

"No!" Waverly shouted flustered. "There will be absolutely no threatening talks with my girlfriend. At least beyond the bare minimum that I'm sure you will somehow find a way to do anyway. We're good, just encountering some… Well, issues."

Wynonna shook her head. "Whatever. I'll leave you two to those 'issues'. We've got to talk about this though. What's with the nightmares? You can't keep going on like this."

Waverly looked torn for a moment. After several seconds of stressed consideration, she spoke up.

"You're probably right. We should talk. Let's go down and grab breakfast."

The two sisters went to the kitchen and prepared breakfast. Once they had both sat down, Waverly was the first to broach the subject at hand.

"So, things have been… hard. Harder than expected."

She wasn't entirely sure what to say, without being able to address being possessed by a demon, but she did know that something had to be said. Wynonna would not give up trying to help anyway.

"I heard you and Willa talking in the barn before; about how it was just the two of you. And the truth is, she was right. We were never really sisters before you came back to town and started shooting up revenants. You coming back gave me the chance to have a real family. Now though, Willa's dead again, you have to run off and save Dolls, and I don't know how long this will last."

Wynonna looked shocked at the outpouring of confession. She walked over and gently placed her hand on Waverly's.

"Hey sis. Look, I can't tell you that you're wrong. I may only be here another month, another week; hell, even if I don't leave I could die tomorrow. Don't think that doesn't cross my mind every day. But no matter how this goes down, I love you: more than Doc, more than Dolls. Not like, in a weird way though." She quickly rushed out, causing Waverly to chuckle. "We're a family now, and you can be damn sure that if I leave you again, that I'm at least going to tell you."

Waverly was warmed by the sincerity in her words.

" _She really is learning to care about people again. I'm glad she's in such a good place, since I'm killing her now."_

"…"

" _Screw you Sentinel."_

"Thanks Wynonna." Waverly stood up and hugged her sister.

"No problem kid. Now seriously, are things okay with Haught? I want to know what kind of trouble I can expect to be in for." She smiled.

"It's good. There are just a lot of unexpected roadblocks when you and your girlfriend fight demonic terrors on the side." Waverly shrugged.

"Tell me about it." Wynonna did an exaggerated eye-roll.

"Oh, remember we're supposed to meet Victoria again today. She should be able to tell us where Dolls was taken." Waverly made certain to inform Wynonna before she left.

"Cool. That's totally not going to be awkward."

* * *

After breakfast, they both set out for the day. Waverly was finally starting to feel the effects of her recent unemployment from Shorty's/Bobo's/Abandoned ruin serving as an emergency hospital. At first it didn't matter all that much—the loss of bar tending, not Shorty-, things were a little busy. Now her days were empty enough that she was beginning to realize that she wasn't **doing** much. Continuing to investigate the unpleasant Sentinel phenomena and help Wynonna find Dolls yes, but that only takes up so much time. Also, it continued the distinctly dangerous trend of her not controlling much of her own life.

In the end, she visited Nicole's apartment. One aspect of dating a cop that she was learning to get used to was the long and odd hours. Whether Nicole was available in the morning, noon, or night could change without notice. Technically, shifts were supposed to change every two weeks, but the reality of early mornings and late nights left few predictable days.

"Hey Waverly!" She was greeted with a glowing smile by the tired officer. "I'm glad you made it."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." She dove in and gave Nicole a kiss on the cheek. "You know I take every opportunity to see my girlfriend when not slaying demon cowboys seriously."

"Well that's good. Because I have something important to ask you." Nicole was clearly both eager and nervous.

Waverly cocked her head curiously. "What?"

"Waverly Earp." The redhead span her around by the shoulders so that she was standing in the middle of her living room. "Will you go on a date with me? Where nobody tries to kill us?"

The shorter woman felt like her heart could burst.

"Yes! Of course."

"Good. I was worried we had jumped the ship on the actual dating phase. Which would be awful. Think about it, if you loved seeing me in a dress, imagine how I must have felt seeing something as stunningly beautiful as you all dressed up." Nicole did that heartwarming, loving smile she was so good at.

"You say that like you don't know you're immensely hot. Which is funny when you knew very well you had me about two seconds after you first walked into a room with me." Waverly flirted with her girlfriend, another simple pleasure she was starting to enjoy.

Nicole laughed gently. "We, I don't like to brag. Anyway, if you're free day after tomorrow, then I can make it. I found a few great places in the big city we can do. Oh wait!"

She suddenly leered at Waverly teasingly and leaned forward to whisper in her ear.

"I forgot: The thing you want to do most is me." She jokingly referred to Waverly's _interesting_ choice of romantic confession back when they first got together.

The Earp sister smacked her playfully.

"I admitted that my choice of words may have been… awkward. So there is no need to tease me about it." She could already tell by the redhead's smile that that would not be the case. "Now that you've ruined the moment maybe I don't feel like that date anymore."

"Really?" Nicole cocked her brow in amused skepticism.

"Fine." Waverly conceded. "Maybe you haven't ruined it that much."

She leaned in, much like Nicole just had, and caught the redhead's lips in a kiss.

"Maybe we can make another moment." She whispered while briefly pulling back from the kiss.

Nicole went along and allowed the make out to happen for a few minutes before gently pushing Waverly back.

"Sorry." She sadly smiled. "But no going farther while you're being spied on."

Waverly pouted, but seeing that Nicole wouldn't budge grudgingly agreed.

"Fine. It's going to be hard to wait until we can get this thing out of me though."

Nicole nodded understandingly.

"Anyway," She chose to change the topic to distract herself from the urge to take things further. "We should be able to start operation rescue Dolls today. Victoria will fill us in later."

"Nice. Still don't know how any of us are going to pull off an assault on a military prison." Nicole dryly observed.

"Hopefully we won't have to. She suggested she might have a plan to help us out." Waverly responded, referring to the bruja.

"That's a relief. Want some tea?"

They had started a sort of tradition of drinking tea at Nicole's place when she had free time. The simultaneous presence of tea and Nicole's cat made her feel a little bit like an old lady, but she wasn't one to let herself be judged by society's fear of old spinsters. Cats are adorable and tea with your girlfriend can be a precious simple pleasure in a complicated life.

Part way through their idle chatter she remembered a question she had been wanting to ask.

"Hey, now that we're officially together I think it's safe to ask personal questions."

The redhead looked amused. "Of course Waverly. I think you know you can ask anything you want."

"Is there any significance behind the green ring you were? I know just about everyone has wondered. Victoria seemed to think it was a wedding ring, which was all kinds of weird." She recounted.

"This?" Nicole lifted her hand showing off the silvery band ringed with round green stones. "It's a prayer ring. My parents were kind of spiritual, and I thought it looked nice."

Waverly smiled. "It does."

* * *

After their relaxing time together, Waverly went into the big city to stock up on supplies for the homestead while Nicole went to work. Eventually, the time for the meeting over where and how to locate Dolls approached, so she returned home to join Wynonna.

Strangely, when she got there she encountered a smiling Wynonna waiting for her.

"Hey, what's up Sis? I thought you would be dreading this meeting." Waverly inquired confusedly after she drove up.

"That? Oh yeah, I still hate the thought of seeing the witch again. I just had a pretty great day though, so that's tiding me over." Wynonna hopped in the pickup's passenger seat and signaled her to get driving.

"What, did a bus full of horny Calvin Klein models stop in town or something?" Waverly joked.

"Really?" Wynonna cocked a brow. "Keep practicing Wave's, your jokes are still just a little rusty."

"Okay, fine." The younger sister acknowledged. "What was it actually then? Not much happens around her other than demon attacks, and those are pretty boring by now."

"Oh, you know. Going around town, having a few drinks, chatting with Nicole." The elder Earp smiled widely and deviously.

"You didn't." Waverly nearly slammed the break in horror.

"Hell yeah I did." Wynonna responded with almost frightening enthusiasm. "I'm trying to be a good big sister now, and that includes making sure no weirdos or assholes get their hands on my baby sister."

"Actually, I can date who I want…" Waverly tried to explain.

"Well I'm expected to try. I did a pretty poor job getting rid of Champ, didn't I?"

With barely a moment's thought, Waverly did have to concede that point.

"Anyway, no need to worry about it. I just had a little chat with her. We got along great. Which shows just how much I care about my baby sis, that I would actually have a meeting with law enforcement end with no arrests or humiliating pranks done to either party."

"What did you talk about?" Waverly gritted her teeth and tried to stay cool and not kill her sister.

And this time it had nothing to do with the voice in her head.

"Well…" Wynonna started.

* * *

 _Wynonna was waiting on an empty street corner. Fortunately, just like everything else, there weren't a lot of streets in Purgatory. She knew roughly when Officer Haught would pass by._

 _And pass by she did. One of the towns only three police vehicles could be seen driving slowly down the street, surveying empty roads that should be peaceful, and yet—like everything on that corrupted town—were surprisingly violent._

 _Wynonna waved the car down the moment she was certain that Nedley wasn't in it (no need for that kind of awkwardness)._

" _Earp?" Haught leaned her head out the window and curiously asked. "You look like you're waiting for someone."_

" _Good detective work Haughtstuff, I'm waiting for you. We need to talk."_

 _She walked straight up to the passenger side of the police car and tapped her foot until the redhead let her in. She seemed so confused that it looked for a moment like she might just drive away, before ultimately relenting and unlocking the door, allowing Wynonna to hop into the passenger seat._

" _So, you're dating Waverly." She opened with a tone of caution. It was most definitely not phrased as a question._

" _Yes. Me and Waverly are officially dating." Nicole replied. The question had at least clarified the reason for this visit._

" _Cool." Wynonna pulled a bottle out of her coat and tossed it across the seat into Haught's lap. "There, might as well have a drink."_

" _I can't drink on duty." Wynonna nearly laughed at how incredulous the officer looked. "And wait… Do you keep beer in your coat?! Who the hell does that?"_

" _Only when I know I'm going to have to talk about serious shit. I don't do well with feelings when sober. Oh, and last time we got drunk you were on duty." She reminded her._

" _I was on desk duty in the middle of the night." The redhead explained. "It was glorified building-sitting."_

" _Whatever, suit yourself." The Earp cracked open her own bottle and gulped from it._

" _So how did you and Waverly get together?" She began the questioning. "She didn't exactly seem-"_

" _How would you know how she 'seemed'? You just came back after years long absence. I've known her as she is today as long as you have." Nicole pointedly remarked._

" _Look you can go-" Wynonna wasted no time starting to give the officer a piece of her mind._

 _Nicole, however, quickly interrupted to placate her._

" _No! God no, Wynonna. I wasn't trying to judge you." Her hands nervously shot up in a gesture of surrender. "I pretty much left my own family behind to come here. I understand that things can be… difficult. It's just that I'm not sure either of us fully understand Waverly yet, and I think we're both trying still."_

" _Yeah." Wynonna sighed. "You pretty much hit the nail on the head."_

" _So," She took another swig of her beer. "You never answered the question: How did it happen?"_

 _Now it was Nicole's turn to sigh as she wistfully looked back over her time with Waverly._

" _It started like a lot of other people's story I'm sure. I saw her one day and she just seemed special. More alive than everyone else around here. So I tried to… woo her for lack of a better word."_

" _It shouldn't have been hard. Not to inflate your ego, but you are miles ahead of anything else Waverly has dated." Wynonna plainly offered._

" _Considering Champ, I can't even deny that myself." Nicole agreed._

" _Now for the hard part." Wynonna said after another gulp of beer. "How do you plan to keep this without both of you getting hurt? Waverly has never been shy about the fact that she wants to leave this place behind. You're a cop, it's not so easy to just up and relocate."_

" _I don't know. It's not all going to be easy, neither of us are pretending that. Some bridges you just have to cross when you reach them." She shrugged. "Also, I'm not sure how much of this is your business."_

 _Wynonna scoffed. "Protecting my little sister is my business. Plus, a cop might not be making my Christmas card list anytime soon, but I don't exactly want to see you heading straight for heartbreak either. You are vaguely like a friend."_

 _Nicole felt a little warm inside at those words. She knew it was going to be a while until Wynonna warmed up to the idea of normal friends considering how much effort she put into running away from any kind of relationship._

" _You too work out those relationship goals. I'm not going to interfere. Break up, make up, have lots of hot sex. I don't care what relationship drama happens. I'm only obligated to point out that if you_ _ **do**_ _hurt Waverly—in any real way—I have a really big gun, it can kill anything, and I'm hella good with it by now."_

 _Wynonna stared at her seriously for a few seconds making the redhead fell uncomfortable. Then she broke out laughing._

" _I've always really wanted to embarrass Wave's by doing that. I feel crazy big-sisterly now. Good talk."_

 _She then immediately hopped out of the car._

* * *

Wynonna basically recounted the whole experience to Waverly. Obviously, she left out a few parts and embellished a few others, but essentially the whole thing was told accurately.

"You did not." Waverly said for the third time. This one like a command while tightly gripping the steering wheel.

"I think we just established that I did." Wynonna grinned.

"You threatened my girlfriend and meddled in my personal life for fun." She nearly shouted.

"Exactly like a big sister should." The older Earp seemed very self-satisfied.

"I don't know why I continue helping to keep you alive." Waverly sighed.

"Probably because you love me." Wynonna jokingly kissed her on the cheek.

"Somehow, yes." Waverly conceded.

The two continued to drive towards Victoria's mostly in silence. When they got there, Nicole's police car was again waiting. Doc was also leaning on it this time. Both Earp sisters were quite surprised.

"What are you doing here?" Waverly sprinted up to the car's window and quizzically addressed her girlfriend inside.

"I can find an excuse to swing my job to let me in on my girlfriend's adventures." The redhead chuckled. "While I was at it I convinced Doc that he should hear what he's going to be dragged in on anyways."

"Ladies." The cowboy tipped his hat.

"Well if the gang is all here, let's do this." Wynonna declared as she ushered them all towards the door.

The group knocked on the door, and once again it was opened by the now familiar witch,

"Welcome. Please come in." She ushered them in, greeting each one with a nod. Except Wynonna, for whom she gently grabbed and kissed the back of her hand. The Earp was caught too off guard to pull it away. Rather than start another fight with the smiling witch, who was at least no longer directly harassing her (albeit only in revenge for her own harassment), she decided on a different approach to possibly get revenge on the bruja. With a wicked smile of her own she popped the top several buttons of her blouse, revealing more than a little of her chest to the woman. By standing carefully however, and using her leather jacket, none of her other companions noticed. Her smile grew when she for the first time saw Victoria caught off guard as her eyes suddenly widened.

Once they were all standing in the room, the host tried to collect her composure and addressed them.

"I have located Xavier Dolls. He is detained at a secret military facility approximately 92 miles southeast of here." She pulled a map out from a drawer at the bottom of the display case in the room and marked down a location.

"As I mentioned when I first accepted the job, the facility is heavily warded, both physically and magically. There is no way you could step onto the base undetected, even should you find some clever plan, their magical sensors would find you."

"So basically you're saying this was all a waste of time and we're back to my original plan of shoot our way in." Wynonna observed in frustration.

"No. Not unless you want to die and have your souls fed to their prisoners." The witch deadpanned. "No, I have found you a possible way in. Where such a collection of magical creatures as Purgatory exists, other magic is sure to cluster." She explained.

"Some magical objects were brought here by Bobo, others by Clootie or the Blacksmith. No matter the source though, many useful arcane artifacts litter the triangle. One such item is a brooch used to prevent magical detection. That particular object could allow you to infiltrate Black Badge."

"Well then, I do believe the only remaining question left to ask is where are we to find this piece of mystical couture?" Doc finally spoke up.

"There is a revenant-" She started.

"Of course there is." Wynonna mumbled.

"-with the ability to shapeshift. A card shark and fraudster in life, he uses the brooch to prevent anyone from seeing through his disguises." She finished.

"Why Johnny Ball you rat bastard. I wondered how that one was doing now. As cowardly as he ever was I see." Doc seemed more bemused than anything after immediately guessing the revenant's identity.

"So you can find him?" Wynonna asked, hoping his outburst meant he would already have a plan.

"I most definitely doubt that. Wyatt barely could, and he was always more the detective. Ball was so slippery he could sell snake oil to snakes. I will say this though: I'm dead certain he is squirming over being stuck in one place for longer than it takes to run the first scam."

"Obviously what I just told you means that I cannot track him for you." Victoria concluded. "From here it is up to you how to acquire this object, and to rescue your friend. Be wary though. In such places many unexpected dangers may come from without and within." She tore her eyes away from Wynonna long enough to subtly tilt her head towards Waverly. The younger Earp subtly cringed.

"Right. Shapechanging revenant. Mysterious object. We got this covered." Wynonna spoke up. "Thanks for the help." She pulled the bruja into a sincere hug.

"Really, thank you. I know I was a shitty customer, but you went beyond to help us. It takes a good person to do that. Witch or not." She thanked Victoria from the bottom of her heart.

She was elated after all; this was her chance to get Dolls back. They had a plan, a solid course of action to follow, and a real chance.

"You're welcome…" Victoria for her part was a little taken back. The fact Wynonna had not fixed her blouse yet meant that the hug she found herself in was a little bit distracting.

"Alright then. I guess I'll get researching this shapeshifter and see if I can't come up with anything." Waverly piped up as Wynonna let the bruja out of the hug.

"And I'll check the local criminal records." Nicole spoke for the first time since entering the house. "If he was a lifelong scam artist like you said, then he should have left a paper trail even, or especially, since becoming a revenant."

With the plan of action set, the group began to give their goodbyes and shuffle out. Once they were out of the house Waverly turned to her sister, who had subtly buttoned her shirt back up on the way out.

"Victoria seemed a little bit off today. Do you have any idea what might have been going on?"

"Beats me." Wynonna shrugged before turning away to hide a wicked smile.

* * *

 **Not much voice in the head this chapter. More teasing a queer witch than is healthy though. Also, anyone stoked for a Wayhaught date? We haven't actually gotten one in the show. Let's see if I can't fix that**

 **Read, review, and for Juan Carlos ' sakes watch Wynonna Earp!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey. Lots of business in RL. Took me forever just to belt this out. I had absolutely no intention of ending this chap here, but I knew I needed to give you all something. So here you go.**

* * *

Not much happened for the rest of the day after the meeting. The gang went about their day mostly as normal. Waverly and Doc both prepared their different methods of finding the revenant: Waverly getting her files in order. Doc getting drunk and finding local gamblers.

In the end though, no action was taken that day.

* * *

 _This time Waverly found herself inside Shorty's exactly as it was before Bobo bought it. Waverly just shook her head in a sort of exasperation._

" _Really? Again? I don't think there is anything left for us to talk about."_

 _Suddenly, Nicole strode into the building. She was in full uniform and hat, just like the day they first met._

" _She will never truly be with you as long as I'm inside of you. Nicole is far stronger, and far more worthy a mate than you could hope to find. Let me take over, kill your sister, and you can have her back." The Sentinel spoke through the form of Nicole._

" _Okay. First, you are messed up to think I would sell out my sister's_ _ **life**_ _for a girlfriend. Even San amazingly hot and good-hearted one. Second, I think we can deal with you ourselves anyway." Waverly retorted._

" _Oh, you have no idea what you are trying to 'handle'."_

* * *

This time, she woke up on her own. For a moment, Waverly was almost disoriented by the lack of a vision of her murdering her own sister.

"Oh, great. That is **not** going to become my preferred alarm." She mumbled into her pillow as she hoisted herself out of bed.

* * *

With one day left still before her date with Nicole, and still no non-monster slaying job, Waverly was able to set right to work on researching their quarry. A problem that was not easy to solve, given that he was an immortal shapeshifter. Fortunately, she had some help.

"I don't know how you do this all day." Waverly groaned over an inordinately huge pile of folders.

"Uh, I don't." Nicole chuckled. "Thankfully, we have deputies for things like this normally. I mostly do either the footwork, or man the front desk."

"I'm the team's main researcher! I've poured over hundreds of police reports from Wyatt Earp's lifetime and beyond. How did they become so… boring?" She bemoaned.

"It's called professionalism Honey. It didn't really exist back in the 1800s. And it doesn't hurt that most of these are about delinquent boys like Champ peeing on things in public. That's a little bit less exciting than cattle rustlers." The redhead bemusedly observed.

"Finding a pattern is impossible." Waverly confessed. "This guy has been around for a hundred years. We don't even know if he's been active. How can we connect which crimes are his out of so many thousands?"

"You are a brilliant person Waverly, and you're a great researcher too, but even if you are gifted police investigation is something you need to be trained in." Nicole explained. "You remember that I asked you to separate files that mentioned a few topics?"

"Yeah." Waverly nodded. "Anything about some building off the downtown. You think it's his hideout or something?"

"No." Nicole smiled. "Better. It's one of his schemes."

Waverly looked at her girlfriend quizzically.

"According to these records, this building has been sold almost precisely every twenty-five years since 1911. That's four times so far if you don't count the first. Each time, after the sale was completed, the building was found to have a defective foundation and was condemned. As is pretty typical, the building was then sold for nearly nothing to someone willing to fix it or tear it down. I'm damn sure Ball was the seller and the final buyer every time. He probably used his powers to gain access to the records and change them. It's probably only thanks to Purgatory's ridiculously bad shoebox based record keeping system, which if I recall correctly Wynonna already took advantage of once, that these records of sale got stuck here. I bet if we checked the records at city hall, like the appraisal, there would be no mention of the building being condemned." Nicole explained it all at length.

Waverly looked quite impressed at her work.

"I guess there are advantages to having a cop as a girlfriend. That was some nice investigating. Now, how do we use it to find him?"

Nicole smiled confidently. "That should be easy, at least the first step. He still needs to own the building. Obviously the identity he owns it under is fake, but their may very well be clues to what else he owns and other cover identities."

Waverly stood up and slipped around the table to sitting on Nicole's lap. Gently, she pulled her face to towards her and kissed.

"I wonder." She fit the words in between kisses. "Why my girlfriend being good at her job is so sexy?"

"We don't seem to have found anything I do yet that you **don't** find sexy." Nicole looked thoughtful as she recalled their relationship. "I do admit you seem to have a thing for me at work. It's really cute. When we're at home you're all about tea, foreign language courses, and investigating revenants, the moment I put on a uniform though I can't keep your hands off me."

Waverly continued to savor her girlfriend's lips for a while before pulling back to speak again.

"Hey! Remember, I love you in a dress too. Which hopefully I will get to see again tomorrow." She cooed, referring to their upcoming date.

"I'm really glad I've never shown you me working out." The cop mused.

"Wait, you work out?"

Nicole cocked her head. "Waverly, I'm a cop. Of course I work out."

Waverly just sat there for a moment staring into space. Nicole was almost surprised she wasn't drooling her mind was so obviously fantasizing about her doing pull-ups in an undershirt. Or any other activity that involved her girlfriend sweating in exertion in minimal clothing.

"Oh, I'm watching." Waverly insisted with surprising ferocity.

"We'll see." Nicole smiled, unafraid of her girlfriend's insistence, before reclaiming her lips to resume their more important activities.

"You know we can't go any farther." She interrupted again quickly after a few minutes.

"I do." Waverly nodded somewhat sadly. "But this is good enough for now."

* * *

After Nicole and Waverly did the follow up enough to get a name and address, Doc and Wynonna volunteered to investigate.

"Why did you suggest we check this one out?" Wynonna inquired. "Waverly and Nicole seemed pretty up to handling this one."

"Well, because a gentleman always carries his own weight. Something which I most definitely have not been doing on this case. However, if any one of us is qualified to pick out Johnny Ball, then it is still someone from his own time. And I do believe I am the only one here who can make that claim."

"Okay, fair point. And I haven't been putting enough Rev-heads under lately, so let's find us a shape-shifter." Wynonna conceded.

When the two arrived at the address they were given, they found a nondescript and essentially unmarked office in a strip mall. One could, in fact, easily assume it was an unused space for rent.

Trying the door and finding it unlocked, the inside was no better. It was clean, but completely empty. The front room was just that, a room with carpeting and nothing else. There was a door on the back wall, however. Wynonna and Doc both just give each other a look before the former shrugged and gave it a knock.

"Yes? Coming, coming." A relatively young male voice ran out.

The door opened a few moments thereafter. Its opening revealed both a comparatively normal office-at least containing a desk with papers and a lamp-, and an average looking white man of probably around thirty years old.

"Welcome. I must say, customers are unexpected here. This office is not particularly set up for guests." He greeted them, shocked, but effectively covering any annoyance.

"Well we didn't know how to best get in contact with you. You are Jeffrey Baron of Baron Realty, right?" Wynonna quickly came up with a way to open up the conversation.

"Yes, but I don't usually see walk in customers."

"I'm afraid we did not know the best way to contact your services. You do own the building at 33 West Main, correct? We were very interested in acquiring that particular property." Doc explained, trying to fish for whether he was talking to the right man.

"I do own that property. It isn't listed for sale though. How did you decide you wanted it specifically?" The man seemed cautious, but intrigued.

"We'll because me and my partner here," she gestured to Wynonna "are looking to start a nightclub, and it happens to possess the perfect mix of location, and availability."

"Yeah." The Earp spoke up. "There's a real opportunity here. With the big city being so close, there is a real customer base of people looking to get away to a place where they can have their fun _without_ anyone they care about catching them. You can't find a place on Earth that fits the bill better than Purgatory. Your building just happens to sit in a private-yet-easy-to-find spot."

The man seemed impressed.

"You certainly seem to know what you want. Here, take my card. I'll meet you Wednesday at 1:30, see if we can't hash out some details. And maybe, you'll get yourself a building." He smiled.

"Well that sounds wonderful Mr. Baron. We'll see you then." Doc nodded and accepted the card.

"Yeah, good business." Wynonna agreed.

The man shook hands with both of them before they left.

"He's a Revenant." Doc flatly declared. "I had the opportunity to shake hands with Johnny Ball on one occasion, and even one-hundred and twenty years later I can tell you that's his slimy handshake."

"Good job.." Wynonna concurred. "Now it's back to Waves and Nicole to keep an eye on him, we can't or he'll get suspicious and might do something stupid. Either way, once they find his hideout I can send him back to Hell and we can finally get Dolls."

Doc stopped in place for a moment. He pulled up his hat and looked to the sky, his face bearing an expression of simple determination. "We're going to find him Wynonna. We'll bring him back, I know it."

"Of course we will." The Earp agreed. "We have to."

* * *

After her work with Nicole, Waverly had returned to the homestead to do mundane chores. After all, demons or no, housework needed to be done and meals cooked. And basically, she was the only thing standing between Wynonna, and beer-bottle laden squalor.

" _If you kill her, neither of you will have to worry."_

Waverly was a little surprised to hear the voice again after it had been so quiet all day.

" _Oh come on."_ She rolled her eyes. _"You're really going to do this again?"_

" _Kill her."_

Waverly just tried to ignore it and continue her cleaning.

" _Kill her."_

" _Kill her."_

"Shut up!" The younger Earp snarled, becoming inordinately angry and annoyed at the repetitive voice.

" _Kill her."_

" _Kill her."_

Waverly found herself becoming dizzy. The words in her head began to blur together as she collapsed against the counter.

"Okay… that's… new…" She mumbled out as her body continued to abandon her leaving her falling to the ground in a heap.

Several motionless minutes passed. Then, the sound of her phone cut through the silence; Nicole's ringtone.

"Hey. Yeah." She crawled up and answered it. "Yeah, that's great. Meet you there."

* * *

 **P.S.**

 **Wayhaught scenes like the cheerleader bit were so hot that they may just have burned out my eyes. 8-0**


	6. Chapter 6

**Another pretty short one, but it's to finish off the last one. We'll see if I can get back to full size chapters.**

 **I've gotta say (again fairly late) that the fandom did an amazing job. Ratings recovered from the colossal drop I mentioned to near peak season one levels. Which, as even cable ratings go isn't that high, but enough to give us a season 3! (Or so I heard)**

* * *

Waverly met Nicole in her patrol car across the street from the same office Doc and Wynonna visited. The two staked out the site, waiting for any hint of activity. Mainly, for anything to leave the office.

"Remember," Nicole cautioned. "Anything could leave that office. The suspect may not appear as expected. He may not look male, or even human."

"Uh-huh." Waverly seemed strangely distracted. She seemed to be paying far more attention to Nicole than the stakeout.

The redhead cop was not entirely oblivious to this fact. She noticed her girlfriend's intense stare, it was almost enough for her to wonder if something was wrong. For the moment however, she just brushed those concerns aside and focused on the mission.

That didn't last long though. Moments later, she felt herself pushed against the door of the cruiser. She turned in shock just in time to see Waverly Earp lunging at her the moment before their lips connected.

She was being kissed.

Rather forcibly so, in fact.

After the moment's shock passed she pushed the smaller girl away.

"What the hell Wave's?! What are you doing? Not on the job. This is important. We can't just mess around." She was clearly shocked and indignant.

The Earp looked confused for a moment before gathering her wits.

"I- I'm sorry. It's just, we're stuck here together in a small car, nothing to do, and I'm not really used to doing this." She looked sincerely ashamed and apologetic.

Nicole looked at her warily before sighing.

"It's all right. Demon slaying doesn't train you for stakeouts. It's just that we already mess around enough when I'm on duty. I can't let it start to interfere with actually doing my job. For Black Badge or the Purgatory Police."

"I understand." Waverly nodded.

The two of them resumed carefully watching the door. Eventually, they saw movement.

"There it is. The door is opening."

The door to the small unmarked shop did, indeed, push open. However, nothing visibly came out before it simply fell shut again.

"Shit!" Nicole cursed. "He's using the brooch."

"Should we close in? Call for Wynonna?" Waverly rapidly questioned.

"No. No, don't panic." Nicole firmly reassured. "Just because he's been tipped off that something is suspicious doesn't mean he's spotted us. Just watch a moment."

Waverly nodded and calmed herself. They watched the lot closely for a few moments, waiting to see what would happen. And shortly, something did.

"Look! Over there." Waverly pointed to one of the cars in the lot. It's door had just opened and shut even though no one had been anywhere near it.

The car quickly started up and pulled out. Waverly and Nicole caught a glimpse of the driver; an older gentleman, completely unlike the description they got of the man in the office.

"He was trying to throw pursuers off. It could easily have worked." Nicole mused.

The pair pulled out themselves and proceeded to cautiously follow the car from a healthy distance. It slowly meandered through the town before eventually pulling up at a rather lonely house on the edge of town.

The building was an old, yellowish cream colored building. It wasn't completely dilapidated, but it wasn't pretty either. Nicole was careful to not even drive on the block.

"Call Wynonna. Tell her we found his hideout." She advised.

"On it." Waverly smiled widely. "Now is the time to fix everything."

"Maybe not quite that far." Her girlfriend chuckled at the rather hyperbolic statement. "But we can bring Dolls back."

* * *

Wynonna and Doc arrived around twenty minutes later. They met around the corner the next block over.

"That's definitely his hideout. Be careful though; I'm almost certain he suspects something." Nicole warned as they stepped out of their cars.

"Fine by me. I've dealt with angry revenants, scared revenants, horny revenants, suspicious revenants shouldn't be a problem." The older Earp quipped.

"You can't just storm in there." Nicole firmly cautioned. "He could be invisible right behind the door and you wouldn't know until your already dead."

"I believe I have a solution to that particular problem." Doc spoke up from where he had walked to the back of the Earp's pick-up truck.

He slung out two large sacks. They looked to be new and were both labeled "Flour".

"I like your style." Wynonna nodded approvingly. "Alright then, if that's everyone's advice on how not to get killed let's go."

She headed towards the house cautiously handling Peacemaker, but did not drawing it yet as they were still on the street. On the way she looked over at Waverly briefly.

"Hey, you got nothing on this one? You've been awful quiet for getting to come along on foot for once." She prodded the younger Earp.

"Huh? Oh. I think we've got a solid plan. I'm just really eager to get this all done." She offered a relieved smile after the brief confusion.

"Ugh. You and me both." Wynonna agreed. "Those assholes cannot just take my Dolls and get away with it."

The building was two stories and had a small front- and large back-lawn. The front lacked a porch or fence, but privacy was afforded by a ring of rather overgrown bushes around the lawn.

The group cautiously reached the front door, keeping quiet and staying low the whole way after rounding onto the same block as the house. Wynonna quickly pressed to the right side of the door and signaled Nicole and Doc, who followed suit by standing in front and taking the left respectively. Waverly ducked behind the bushes clutching her shotgun.

"3… 2… 1…" Wynonna mouthed, followed by a quick hand signal.

The others immediately leapt into action. Nicole kicked in the door, and Doc flung the sack of flour in sideways, spraying its contents across the room. Wynonna, only a fraction of a second after, span into the doorway pointing Peacemaker.

"Clear." She announced seeing nobody and nothing within the powder coated entryway. "Doc, you take the back, make sure he isn't escaping. Nicole, Waves, check the rest of the ground floor. I'm going upstairs."

They all rushed through the door, except for Doc who began to jog to the back.

Nicole headed forward, to what looked like the kitchen, Waverly broke left to the living room, and Wynonna headed to the stairs.

"'Nonna!" Before she got far though, the older Earp heard her sister quietly whisper-shout to her. Looking down from the bannister, she saw her waving her over with the hand grasping her shotgun while making shushing motions with the other. The taller sister mouthed "What?" as she cautiously crept over. Waverly frantically gestured to something on the opposite end of the room. Wynonna passed the threshold into the room and curiously peered to where Waverly was pointing.

*Crack!*

Crushing pain exploded through Wynonna's head collapsing her to the ground before she could even make a sound. She was so disoriented that she barely even felt as Peacemaker was kicked out of her hands and out the door.

"Stop it Waverly! Let me finish this." The quiet hiss of… Waverly? Narrowly registered in her disoriented, pain-filled mind.

Sounds resembling an awkward struggle ensued very briefly before the explosive boom of a shotgun shot erupted.

"Fine then. If you won't let me finish the job." Waverly's voice mumbled quickly. Almost immediately, another blast sounded, followed by a scream.

"Aaagh! Nicole!"

* * *

Nicole had already started running the moment she heard the gunshot. However, when she heard Waverly's scream she barreled through the house at breakneck speed bursting into the living room just in time to see her girlfriend leaning against the wall flushed with pain and blood leaking from her right foot. Also disturbing was Wynonna lying sprawled across the ground.

"Waverly! Are you okay?" She hurriedly embraced the smaller girl and helped to support her off her injured foot.

"Yes but-Gah!" She hissed in pain. "You've got to stop him. That's not Wynonna. He ambushed me. Fought over gun. Shot into ground, but managed to wrestle it off of him and knocked him out." She managed to explain with a pained grimace.

"Where is Wy-"

"He's getting up, stop him!" Nicole started to inquire before being interrupted by Waverly's scream.

The officer drew her gun in a single swift motion.

"Don't move!" She aimed at the crumpled form and loudly ordered.

"Nicole, please." Wynonna just barely gasped out while very slowly recovering from the devastating blow.

"Ah!" Waverly screamed in shock. "Just shoot him and we can find Wynonna to finish it off."

Haught kept the gun firmly leveled at the crumpled form, but otherwise made no move to act.

"I don't think we're in any danger. Just call the real Wynonna." She instructed.

"Shit." Waverly cursed as she collapsed onto the ground, her bloody foot clearly giving out.

"Waves! Oh my god!" Nicole kneeled, keeping her gun loosely leveled at Wynonna while her attention mainly fixed on Waverly.

"I'm losing more blood than I thought. Just finish him so we can find Wynonna and get out of here." She moaned.

"Doc!" Nicole called out. As she did so, she began to haul Waverly towards the stairs up.

"What are you doing?!" The shorter girl asked, a little bit of anger seeping into her tone.

"Doc can watch it while we find Wynonna. Come on, if something hadn't happened to her already she would have heard all this by now."

"What if he turns invisible? You can't really think it's safe to leave him alone for even a second?" She urged.

With a single flip of her hand, Nicole aimed her gun at the body and fired.

"Finally." Waverly began to breath a sigh of relief.

Before being interrupted by the butt of a gun to her face. The blow was powerful enough to knock her out instantly.

"Oh my god are you okay?!" Nicole began cradling the wounded Wynonna, trying to gently ply some response out of her. After a few more moments she stirred again.

"You shot me!" Were the first words to come out of her mouth.

"I grazed you. I needed to be absolutely sure before I knocked out the girl I love." Nicole protested.

"You **shot** me!" The Earp repeated frustratedly.

"I'm sorry! But you bled human blood, so it was really for your own good."

"Screw you. If you weren't my sister's girlfriend I would teach you a lesson in your 'own good'." The wounded woman grumbled threateningly.

"I think your older sister already tried that." The redhead quipped back.

"Fine, we'll call it even. What made you suspicious anyway? Why did you work so hard not to shoot me?"

"I wasn't really suspicious at all at first. Waverly had been acting a little odd, but not enough that I didn't think something was just bothering her to talk out after the mission. It's that I want to be a good cop. If I could be pressured into shooting someone who was no threat to me, even by the woman I love, what kind of officer-and person would I be?"

Wynonna smiled softly up at her.

"I don't know, but you're a damn good one now."

She helped Wynonna, who now had a small wound running up her left leg from the graze of the bullet, to stand.

"We didn't just, like, have a moment, right?" The injured woman held a straight face as she inquired.

"What the- I'm with your sister Wynonna!" Officer Haught indignantly shouted.

"Seriously? You don't think I haven't broken up couples like that on accident before? I'm the total package Haught Stuff. Your hearts in the right place though, because I'm just going to tell you right now, this top shelf ass is off limits for her sake." She teased.

"Why did I ever say that." Nicole grumbled.

A moment later the redhead was again pointing her gun as they both heard footsteps at the open front door.

"This rascal was trying to escape out the back."

Doc Holliday stepped in holding a flour covered man not unlike the one at the office earlier in the day with one hand, and a small brooch in the other.

"Wait just a minute." Wynonna spoke up confused. "If that's the shapeshifter over there, why the hell did my sister just try to kill me?"

"Great." Nicole sighed. "This is going to get complicated."

* * *

 **Read, review, be bad ass and don't give a shit like Wynonna would. (RRBBADGSLWW for short)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Well, it was slow, and not back to full episode chapters, but I'm not leaving you hanging. Here it is.**

* * *

 _Waverly found herself locked inside her old bedroom in the homestead. She was left trapped without any apparent route of escape. It continued that way for at least hours, Waverly had no way of telling time, with her pounding on the doors and trying to draw it's attention numerous times. Eventually it did respond though._

" _You can give up you know. I never have to let you out. Play along though and I may even let you come to the front sometimes. Perhaps even see Nicole." The voice whispered through the door._

" _If you're talking to me now after all that silence then I bet it means they stopped you." Waverly tried to maker her voice confident, even so, the fear and isolation of being trapped in her own mind weighed on her tone._

" _Or, I finally killed her. Perhaps your sister lies dead and I came to boast." The voice taunted back._

" _I don't believe it for a moment." Waverly responded with venom._

" _Suit yourself. You will learn soon enough."_

* * *

The entire gang returned to the homestead in the wake of their hunt. Wynonna even kept the revenant carefully tied up just in case one of them might know something about what was going on. Waverly was likewise carefully bound and gagged. They had however, remembered to bandage her bleeding foot.

"I think somebody owes me an explanation why my goddamn sister needed knocked out after trying to kill me." She bluntly demanded.

"For once, I can completely truthfully say that I am absolutely innocent to what is happening." Doc offered.

Nicole loudly sighed and hung her head.

"I'm not."

"Then get talking or I get shooting." She pulled out Peacemaker and leveled it at Haught. "This is my fucking sister. I may like you, but I love her. Way too damn much to lose her so soon after coming back."

"She's possessed by a demon." Nicole's voice wavered as her face burned with shame. "She asked me not to tell you. How could I go behind her back so early in our relationship?"

Wynonna lowered the gun, calming down enough to realize threatening Nicole's life wasn't going to help.

"Alright, I get it. Lovebirds and shit. Just give me the deets on the demon."

"She didn't tell me much. The only important facts about it seemed to be that it talks in her head, and its goal is to kill you."

"Shit!" Wynonna threw her arms up in the air and frantically paced the room. "Shit, shit! So my own baby sister is being used to kill me? Really? And I thought Bobo sucked."

"Fine then, how the hell do we get it out of her? You," She pointed at the captured revenant. "Have you revenants heard anything about who's behind this?"

"Do you honestly think I made myself privy to any of their incompetent plans? My only concern is a comfortable living without being shot." He sarcastically bit.

"Good. Just covering all bases." She casually commented, not even bothering to turn his way as she swung Peacemaker towards him and fired, sending him screaming through the hell-gate opened in the ground.

"So, solutions people. How do we get Waverly back?"

"Tea!" Nicole suddenly looked more hopeful. "Waverly mentioned something about an herbal tea that Victoria gave her to suppress the demon."

"Hell yeah. That's what I'm talking about Haught." Wynonna was obviously relieved to actually hear some good news. "So where is it?"

"I don't know." The officer shook her head. "But I'm sure she would have kept some here at the homestead considering the demon is targeting you."

"Well then." Wynonna declared. "It looks like we're brewing some tea."

* * *

The gang canvassed the kitchen, scouting every cupboard for anything that could resemble tea leaves. Not entirely, despite both inhabitants of the house preference for vodka, there were several options. The first were just clearly generic store bought options though.

"Why do we even have this? Who here has ever drank tea?" Even with her sister's life in danger, Wynonna still had to ask.

"Everybody has tea left somewhere in their cupboard." Nicole offered. "You either bought it or it bought for you at least once, and it never looks or smells bad, so you can't bring yourself to throw it out."

"Same deal at your place?" The Earp guessed.

"No, I actually drink it. Which is how I learned everybody I visit has a dusty old box of it." She replied.

"How on earth do you have so many greens?" Doc was curiously holding a bundle of both parsley and cilantro. "In my time it was a miracle to see a fresh leaf of lettuce if you didn't farm it."

"Supermarkets have changed a lot." Wynonna offered. Doc just shrugged and kept looking.

After a few more minutes search the team gathered what they had found: two boxes of cheap store bought tea.

"Okay, that's…" Wynonna paused. "Completely useless."

"Maybe." Nicole grabbed the boxes and poured out the contents onto the table. "However, we probably should check first."

The boxes did indeed contain ordinary tea bags, but one of them also contained a small resealable bag with a few small balls of, presumably, tea leaves.

"Let's get that shit brewing!" Wynonna snatched it with a celebratory exclamation and went to grab a kettle from the stove.

Shortly, after the leaves had steeped, the group returned to the living room and prepared to administer the cure. They could clearly see that Demon-Possessed-Waverly was awake.

"I got this guys." Wynonna signaled the others to stay back. Her confidence however was put into doubt as she immediately began to mumble reassurances to herself as she strode across the room to Waverly.

"It's okay Wynonna, you can do this. You've got to do this."

She reached the bound girl and ripped out her gag.

"You going to just drink it, or do we have to do this the hard way?"

A dark, very in-Waverly like chuckle came out of her sister's mouth.

"Why? You can't kill me. I can take torture far beyond what you could ever give." She smiled and released another short laugh. "That is if you can do anything to your precious sister."

"Just give her back, please." Nicole suddenly interjected a desperate plea.

The Sentinel suddenly looked visibly uncomfortable. Wynonna looked between them curiously.

"I cannot do that. Wynonna must die so that I may personally assure that the damned rest in Hell."

"Cool story, but like I said: I can handle this." Wynonna quipped.

She pulled out Peacemaker and lifted up towards the Sentinel possessed Waverly's cheek, ensuring that it could see what she was doing, and slowly pressed it to her face.

"Aaaaahhhhh!" An ear-piercing scream ripped from Waverly's mouth as her face contorted in unimaginable pain.

Wynonna lifted the gun and switched to the other cheek.

"Yeah, this pain frightens things that have experienced the torments of Hell. You just watched the door." She sneered at the collapse of the creature's tough act before pressing to its skin.

The screams erupted yet again. Nicole looked physically sickened and frightened at the sight of what appeared as her girlfriend screaming and suffering so much pain.

"Now, since I think I've demonstrated just how far I'm willing to go to get my sister back, you can drink the goddamn tea, or I can shove this up somewhere even more painful." She threatened, punctuating the point by quickly pressing the tip of Peacemaker to its forehead.

"Fine!" She screamed. "I accept. But I will kill you Earp."

The older sibling rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right. Get in line, you'll be somewhere around sixty-five. Sixty-six if Jimmy still remembers that whole junior prom thing."

She rudely pressed the cup against its mouth. After sputtering a few moments, it swallowed the liquid.

The whole group watched as Waverly's eyes flashed black, before slowly seeping back to their normal tone.

"Ugh." She groaned. "Wait a minute… I'm back? You did it! I knew it!"

Both Wynonna and Nicole pounced on her with a hug as they made a ruckus of laughing and crying.

"Wait a minute." Wynonna suddenly interrupted the celebration and tapped Waverly's cheek with Peacemaker. "Right, your good. Back to hugging now."

The three continued to share a group hug. It wasn't long until Waverly turned to Nicole and they began to share a kiss as well.

"Okay. I'm beginning to feel a little third wheel-y in this hug right about now." Wynonna joked as she let go.

Waverly actually pulled away from Nicole with a final apologetic kiss.

"You'll never be a third wheel Wynonna, you're my sister. Now get back in here." She pulled the older Earp back into her arms. "Besides, me and Nicole will have all the time in the world to do this same thing, but naked later anyway."

"Fucked up girl!" Wynonna laughed as she pushed Waverly off of her. "Only I'm supposed to give uncomfortably much detail about my sex life to family."

After a last laugh, her face took a much more serious expression.

"You know we're going to need to have a very serious conversation about you hiding the fact you were possessed by a demon out to kill me."

Waverly looked intensely nervous and embarrassed.

"Yeah, sorry about that whole trying to kill you thing." She sheepishly replied.

"S'okay Baby Girl. Happens to the best of us." Wynonna gave her a quick peck on the forehead and finally stood up again. "Now that that's all done, we have a job to finish. That was the last step to begin Operation Rescue Dolls. Me and Doc should get everything ready, we're heading out tomorrow. Day after at the latest. We'll talk tomorrow."

She and Doc headed out to prepare, leaving Waverly and Nicole alone. The two of them just sat in silent embrace for a few minutes before Nicole spoke up.

"So, you got shot again?"

"Yep." Waverly nodded. "I'm beginning to think bullet wounds are a gay thing. You guys should warn newbies about that."

Nicole chuckled.

"You didn't think it might be an Earp thing? It also all started after your sister came back." She countered.

"Fair point, but I'm still pointing my finger at gayness." Waverly stood her ground.

"Do you need anything? Should I be taking you to the hospital?" Nicole sounded concerned now that the true extent of the events that passed began to set in.

"Nah. The last one was way worse. The Sentinel obviously assumed that it would still be controlling me, so it couldn't do any real damage."

She leaned even closer and began whispering in the redhead's ear.

"Tomorrow I will visit the hospital just to be sure everything is safe and clean. Tonight, I believe we have privacy."

" **Total** privacy." She added, staring at Nicole with a sultry grin.

"Oh." Nicole reacted, her eyebrows raised.

"Yeah." Waverly confirmed.

" _Oh._ " Nicole repeated, this time with a dimpled smile and hoisting Waverly up into her arms as she said it.

"Yeah…" Waverly breathed out slowly.

The much taller redhead carried her girlfriend to the bedroom. Waverly made the process much slower than it need to be by choosing to nuzzle under Nicole's uniform collar and plant kisses along her neck and collarbone.

Not that Nicole was complaining.

She reached the bedroom and dropped Waverly gently onto the bed.

"I think we're both too well dressed right now."

"Really? Those khakis do make your butt look great." Waverly couldn't help but joke.

Nicole did not distract herself from stripping down, unbuttoning her uniform top and loosening her belt. Waverly followed suit and quickly shed her skirt and crop top. She finished so much quicker that she was able to help her girlfriend finish removing the last of her uniform and underwear.

Where Nicole's job essentially required at least moderately sensible rather than stylish undergarments, Waverly had no such limitations. The redhead's eyes went wide once Waverly laid back on the bed after helping her strip and she saw that her small lover was in a purple mesh and lace lingerie set. The set barely concealed anything, but most certainly accentuated it. Which nearly struck Nicole dumb when in her eyes, Waverly was already a phenomenal sight without anything accenting her charms.

"Baby Girl… just… wow." The cop stuttered.

"I take it you like it?" The Earp grinned.

"Baby, there's no one alive who would **not** like that." Nicole breathed, still a little… distracted.

"Well then, it's lucky only you get to see it." Waverly whispered.

"Let's see some more." Nicole dropped onto the bed and pulled the smaller girl onto her, who squealed at the sudden move. She reached behind, gently removed the bra, and tossed it over the side of the bed. Waverly took the opportunity of their bodies pressed together to pull Nicole into a kiss.

Their movements were awkward, and slow, and oh-so-pleasurable as Nicole reached down to work Waverly's panties off without pulling out of the kiss.

The entire process took several minutes, but neither woman was trying for speed. Once the underwear was off though, and Nicole finally pulled out of the kiss, she slowly teased down her girlfriend's body, kissing every open space.

Once she reached her lover's center she gently teased Waverly with short kisses and slight flicks of her tongue before pulling back entirely.

"I want to try something if you're okay with it." Nicole explained when Waverly whined at the loss of contact.

The redhead pulled out from under the bed the overnight bag she had already brought to Waverly's room weeks ago. Unzipping it, she removed a more recent addition. Waverly sat up a little bit just in time to see her lover affixing a harness with straps.

"You want to try a strap-on?" She questioned, intrigued by Nicole's desire.

"Only if you want to." Her lover attempted to reassure her that there was no pressure.

"Right now I want anything from you." She lurched forward and pulled Nicole back onto her just as she had finished lubing the toy to plant another searing kiss on her. "Besides, I'm sure you'll feel a whole lot better inside me than Champ."

The redhead looked briefly disgusted.

"A tip with women Baby. Most of them don't ever want compared even positively to a man's parts. Especially Champ Hardy's."

Still, despite her warning Nicole did not let herself be deterred, and reasserted control of their kiss. Reaching down between their tangled legs, she began to carefully align the shaft with her smaller lover's center.

Since, unlike most men, she placed no artificial value on virginity, Nicole was actually rather glad that Waverly was already experienced. It meant that although she would be no less careful about Waverly's feelings or pleasure, she could worry much less about causing the girl any pain.

"You sure your ready?" She confirmed one last time.

"Do it." Waverly confirmed before reconnecting their lips.

Nicole slowly pressed the toy into her lover, the feeling of Waverly releasing a slow gasping moan into her mouth was perhaps the most sexual thing she had ever experienced.

Then again, with Waverly Earp, it was already a very competitive list.

She started with a slow rhythm, more pressing into her and slowly twisting in a circle than thrusting, enjoying the sensation of their warm bodies touching. Waverly was clearly enjoying it as well; at first throwing her head back and releasing a low breathy moan before suddenly clutching her almost painfully tight and biting sharply into the crook of her neck.

The sudden pain spurred Nicole on. She now began thrusting in earnest. The feedback from Waverly's every whimper and clutch giving her the delicious pleasure of being inside her lover.

Waverly, for her part, was in heaven. Nicole's powerful thrusts were like nothing she had ever experienced. Champ was, despite his ridiculous number of flaws, not a completely terrible lover (it was the only reason she ever stayed with him), but he was still an absolutely selfish lover. Nicole was reacting to every moan, every gasp, to gauge how to best drive her lover's pleasure. Just as Waverly was reaching her peak, Nicole snaked her hand down between them and pressed her thumb firmly against her clit and gently twisted, sending her cascading over the edge with a scream.

"Oh fuck Nicole!" She semi-incoherently screamed immediately before biting even more deeply into the already bruising hickey.

The redhead just used the pain to help drive her own orgasm. Once she knew Waverly had came, she began once more grinding against the smaller girl, this time pressing her own sex against the inside of the toy to help bring her own climax to head. She came with a muffled, breathy grunt.

They laid there for the longest time, Waverly enjoying the warm comfort and security of being held firmly beneath her lover's gently breathing form.

* * *

"Wake up Sleeping Beauties! We've got a prison to break!" Wynonna's voice cut through the haze of sleep. Waverly didn't even realize she had fallen asleep until she saw the sunlight streaming through the window.

Nicole rolled off of her in shock, also knocking off the sheet that one of them must have drawn over their bodies at some point in the night.

"Is that- Were you still inside… Jesus Nicole, just take that off! I did not need to see that!" Wynonna looked a little bit queasy as she span around to avoid further seeing her baby sister's post-coital state.

Nicole was briefly mortified with embarrassment, but then began to laugh to both Earp sister's surprise.

"Hey, it's your fault you have to keep busting in on us! I'm just glad that for once you showed up _**after**_ we got to have our fun." She seemed extraordinarily self-satisfied at seeing a near Wynonna interruption fail.

"Whatever Haughtstuff." The older Earp was already walking out of the room with a dismissive hand wave behind her back. "Nice tits by the way." She slammed the door shut again to let them get ready.

Which they did. A still embarrassed Waverly particularly quick to throw on her clothes.

"Did she just compliment my girlfriend's tits right in front of my face?" She grumbled will pulling the day's crop-top on.

"Don't let it get to you. Flirting is exactly how Wynonna likes to get on people's nerves. Besides, she's straight, so I'm **pretty** sure she's no threat to you." Nicole reassured her girlfriend, clearly still amused.

."Yeah right. Neither is her 'top-shelf ass'." Waverly sarcastically grumbled with an eye roll to punctuate her point.

"Hey! I was trying to-" Nicole started to protest.

"I'm just teasing Honey. Now come on. 'Nonna is right, we have a rescue mission." She gave the redhead a quick kiss on the cheek.

* * *

Once they were ready Waverly and Nicole went down to the kitchen, where, as it turned out, Wynonna and Doc were already waiting. Doc already had some scrambled eggs waiting for them.

"Good. Eat up, we have a long drive." Wynonna said, still busy double-checking supplies. Mostly bags of guns and ammo.

"If we're assaulting a secret military prison do we have a plan? I mean a specific plan, not the vague idea to run at it while invisible." Nicole pressed, trying to gauge just how dead they all were.

"Even Victoria's divination and cool toy didn't exactly give us important details like, you know, a map? Blueprints? Sorry Red, but we're flying blind. Our only hope is that they will be too." Wynonna explained, pulling the brooch out at the last point.

"She is right." Waverly piped up. "We really have no idea how this place will be set up. The only option is to scout it out on site."

"Alright." The redhead conceded. "But we need to **all** be careful then. This isn't any of us's area of expertise, so we are running into a threat far bigger than hillbilly demons with guns."

Wynonna made a point of Nicole seeing her dramatic eye roll.

"I can see you're trying for the role of team mom with Dolls gone."

"I wasn't the team mom with your sister last night." Nicole shot back.

Wynonna, Doc, and Waverly just stared at her wide eyed and silent for several seconds before the elder Earp burst out laughing.

"Don't try to do my quip thing Haughtstuff. It just… doesn't work for you." She fit in between fits of laughter. Doc awkwardly nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, alright." She mumbled feeling humiliated. "That really wasn't my thing."

"It's alright Honey." Waverly kissed her on the cheek. "Your amazing with your mouth in other ways."

Nicole suddenly looked even more mortified and Wynonna choked mid-laugh, before then chuckling again.

"See? It's an Earp thing?"

* * *

 **Finally getting back to that rescue! You will all get to see how Dolls has been hanging in this time line soon. Please Read, please Review. And P.S. I am still amazed ratings recovered so big we will get a third season.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry for the delay fans! I was working a second job over the holidays. That really put a damper on writing. Here we are though.**

* * *

The team finished loading up the Earp's pickup truck and drove the route to the prison given to them by Victoria. Wynonna and Waverly took the pickup, while Nicole and Doc took his car taken from the Stone Witch.

They crossed the beautiful wilds and farmlands of the ghost river triangle before eventually leaving even that behind.

"It really hurt, not telling me about this problem. First you were afraid to let me know about Nicole, now this. I know that after disappearing for 15 years, I have no right to expect you to just trust me like that never happened overnight." Wynonna let her feelings out. "But I want to earn your trust, and I'm not going to disappear on you again.

Waverly shook her head, a sad frown on her face.

"It's not that I don't trust you 'Nonna. It's that I don't trust myself. I had a voice in my head telling me to kill you. I wanted to pretend I wasn't a threat to you. Telling you would force me to acknowledge it and… I wasn't brave enough to do that." Waverly's voice choked as she seemed to have difficulty voicing her feelings.

"It doesn't matter what's in your head, as long as you're in there too Waves." Wynonna sought to sincerely reassure her sister. "Although it was extremely fucked up having to torture your possessed body. Try not to make me do that one again."

"Trust me, I'll try."

* * *

The trip lasted for hours, but eventually they pulled to a stop. Not for seeing the base, the whole group knew that they had to stop well out of site, but at the point where they knew it had to be close. They also made certain to pull the cars well out of sight of the crude dirt road.

"From here we march on foot." Doc drawled when the whole group met up outside the cars.

They gathered their supplies, each one having to haul a pack of various equipment (mostly weapons, courtesy of Wynonna), and moved parallel to the road. The scenery was extremely flat, empty grassland making it difficult to remain out of sight of the road. At points they gave up, taking into consideration the extreme unlikely-hood of anyone actually passing on said road.

It was nearly an hour's march, but eventually the group spotted a chain link fence topped with barbed wire on the horizon.

"There it is." Nicole pointed it out first.

"Now to get inside." Wynonna spoke up. "Have we seriously not considered the fact we only have one Harry Potter toy here?" She suddenly considered. "I don't think we can all play hide behind the invisible guy."

"We will need to lower their defenses. Enter in turns if we have to." Doc suggested. "Either me or you can incapacitate the human guards. Waverly, I know you are no witch, but you were able to perform that summoning spell nonsense for Dolls before. Do you think you would stand a chance of lowering those magical wards we were warned about?"

Waverly shrugged.

"I don't know. I only know what little about magic my courses in ancient history and mythology taught me. I'm pretty certain I can read anything they can throw at me in there though, so I'm still the best chance we have."

"It'll have to do. What order should we do this?" The elder Earp questioned.

"There will be no way to remove the guards that won't be found out within minutes. Whereas Waverly here's mission will take an indeterminate amount of time. So she must go first." Doc reasoned.

"So it's decided." Wynonna declared. "You up for it Baby Sis?"

"Are you kidding? I've been waiting for forever to actually **do** something on this team." Waverly enthused. "I am so in."

Without warning, the elder Earp tossed the brooch to the smaller girl, who just barely caught it.

"Alright then. You know the plan, get in there, make us an opening, and get out."

Waverly nodded and started towards the base while affixing the brooch. Before she got far though, Nicole grabbed her by the shoulder, spinning her around, and pulled her into a kiss.

Waverly was caught by surprise at first, but quickly melted into her taller lover's embrace.

"Here."

The Earp girl was so dazed by the kiss that she didn't even notice at first that Nicole had pulled back and placed a police walker-talkie in her hand.

"So you can call for backup if things go sour." She explained.

Waverly shook off the daze caused by the kiss and nodded.

"Thanks. Don't worry about me though. I'm basically a spy already. I mean, I watched D.E.B.S: like, nine times? I've got this." The younger Earp reassuringly explained.

Nicole laughed and quickly gave her another kiss on the forehead.

"I don't think that's quite the same Baby, but you'll do great. Now go on and get rescuing."

Waverly fixed the brooch to her shirt and promptly faded from vision.

"Is this thing working?"

"Unless you suddenly got a lot better at camouflage, then yes." Wynonna answered.

"Alright then I'm going in." Waverly gave warning as she headed towards the camp.

The walk towards the camp was long and lonely, and the scenery was flat and unchanging. Waverly was alone with her thoughts, a state which had taken a whole new frightening meaning of late. However, her possessor was still strangely silent much to her relief. As such, she arrived to stand beneath the razor-wired chain fences of the camp without incident.

The entire camp was quite small as military bases go. One structure about the size of a large house, two more roughly like small cabins or large sheds, a decent stretches of open space between them all, with trucks and jeeps scattered across it. The perimeter just had a single chain link fence topped with razor wire and four watch towers; all currently manned.

" _Okay, how should I do this? What would Wynonna do?"_

She heavily analyzed her options.

" _No obvious breaks in the wire. They can't see me, but I can't move the wire."_

Waverly found herself in a very difficult situation. She was invisible, undetectable by magic, yet still could not enter.

" _Well, it may not be creative, but if I can't go in, then they need to come out."_

She quickly dropped her pack and rifled through the supplies. It took a minute or two of shoving aside knives, eskrima rods, and—of course—guns, but eventually she found what she was looking for: a lighter.

" _I'm glad she actually remembered to pack a few things that don't directly kill people. Wait a minute, what is…?"_

Also in the bag, was a bottle of Jack Daniels.

" _Okay, now_ _ **that**_ _is very Wynonna."_

She grabbed the bottle along with the lighter. Carefully, she gathered a handful of the grass into a pile at a spot where she thought a fire might best take hold and ignited it. The fire was feeble, but a hefty pour of the whiskey helped it to take hold. Soon smoke was rising and a small blaze was spreading across the field.

"Hey! We've got something out here. I need a squad, and bring fire extinguishers." The voice of one of the guards reached her from a tower.

It wasn't long before a heavily armed group of soldiers rushed from the large structure towards the gate. The leader was already shouting into his radio.

"We can control the blaze. Watch both the gate and the perimeter closely. This is very likely a distraction."

Waverly snorted to herself.

" _Hit the nail on the head there."_

As expected, the front gate opened to let the group rush out. Waverly was already poised and waiting and slipped in just behind them.

She immediately dismissed the smaller buildings as options and rushed into the large one. Using the distraction of the fire still, she rushed straight through its front door unnoticed.

The inside of the building, at least the initial portion, was entirely typical of a military base. Sterile gray hallways extended in all directions, dotted with ambiguously numbered doors.

Waverly knew Dolls was most likely in a basement of some sort, it seemed doubtful prisoners would be held on the ground floor in a place like this. On the other hand, she needed to find what kind of magical warding this place had running, and that could be anywhere. Even when invisible though, opening every door would not do. She needed to improvise.

The youngest Earp dropped the bag again, considered the guns for a moment, but ultimately pulled one of the eskrima rods instead. She then carefully crept through the hallways. Despite even the largest building being relatively small, it still contained multiple winding, identical hallways making navigating feel like exploring a maze.

She was thankful when it didn't take long to find what she wanted: an unarmed staffer walking between rooms. The man in question looked to be a scientist or technician by his lab coat. Other than that, he was a short, weak looking, dark haired man who looked to probably be of Indian heritage.

She waited, stalking him, until he opened a door. Thereupon, she peaked around him to confirm the room was empty. Satisfied that they were alone, she grabbed him around the neck to place him in a headlock, and pressed the tip of her eskrima rod into his back.

"Don't make a sound." She hissed.

Other than a faint whimper, he obeyed completely. She pushed him into the room and closed the door behind them.

" _Wow, the pretending to have a gun bit actually works exactly like in the movies."_

"What kind of magical wards protect this base and how do I disable them?" She hissed into his ear.

"You're invisible **and** shielded from magical scrying? You must be cloaked by a Greater Arcanum. Early Armenian runic formation? They did some amazing things in personal protection." He enthused seemingly without regards to the question.

" _Just who is this guy?!"_

Waverly was briefly taken aback by his apparent enthusiasm for being taken hostage as long as something interesting was used to do so.

"The wards!" She snarled as intimidatingly as she could—not, admittedly one of her more finely honed skills—and jabbed the rod into his spine to punctuate her demand.

"Aaand obeying!" He waved his hands in the air in, rather comically exaggerated, surrender. "They're all detailed on those computers." He pointed at the primary contents of the room they were in: Three ordinary desktop computers on small, bare desks.

Waverly approached the computers. Strangely, they were all already on and unlocked. Each one also had a simple notepad program running. Typed in the program was Chinese script.

" _Is that…?"_ Waverly pondered it for a moment. _"Chinese wards to protect against spirits often need to be physically attached to a building on strips of paper. Are they actually leaving it running on a word processor constantly instead?"_

Waverly was slightly baffled by the apparent technological update to protective scrolls, and a little confused what advantage it had over just hanging the papers, but regardless, she closed the file on every computer.

"That won't help your friends to get in unless they happen to be dead." The man casually observed.

"I know, but I'm covering all my bases. I might want to create a distraction later."

She quickly settled at one of the computers and began searching the files. Noting how they had kept the first ward, she began by searching through text files, however she also expanded to bring up images; another obvious way to save protective spells (or so she figured at least, it made sense on the surface), particularly glyphs.

Several hits came up nearly immediately. She attempted as best she could to decipher them using her knowledge of languages to actually be able to read them and expansive cultural understanding to figure out many of the otherwise cryptic phrases.

That actually worked for several of them. She was able to pinpoint key words and phrases to decipher a probable meaning and effect. However, given her extremely limited time frame, and the fact unfortunately few magical spells (or most ancient languages at all, although only a handful of the spells were in those thankfully) can be simply read like a book, she was not capable of figuring out many of them.

Realizing she needed to get this done fast, Waverly prioritized what she had found. First, she took those which needed countered, rather than just broken or cleared (which in this unusual, case she assumed deleted the files would do for). Not being in any way trained in magic, she had little clue how to perform such counters, but she did her best. Fortunately, several were essentially self-explanatory, needing only obvious reversals or otherwise outlining in the course of the spell how to counter it. Finishing that, she carefully and fully deleted the other files.

"That should slow them down." Waverly mumbled once she was satisfied that she had done all she could.

"Well, a little bit I guess." The man behind her commented. He still sounded nervous (and maybe a little bit socially awkward), but Waverly couldn't help but pick up a judgemental edge to his tone.

He suddenly pulled out the chair to the unit left of her. Before Waverly could even protest, he opened the command prompt and rapidly typed in a series of commands. Only moments after he completed, the computers all began opening, modifying, and closing files faster than her eyes could follow before all promptly shutting down.

"What?!" She couldn't think of anything better to ask in her shock.

"There, that will deactivate all of the security protocols. I would be very careful now, we keep _ghuls_ here, which now have now no _ruqyah_ to contain them." He matter of factly explained.

"But why?" She asked, curious as to why one of their scientists would help her.

"Just get Dolls out of here, okay?" He stared intently at where he thought she was (which was a little off) and them hurried out of the room.

" _That was… weird."_ Waverly reflected. However, she didn't have time to figure out the why of it.

"Wards are down, I'm coming back." She reported through her radio, and then rushed back out of the building.

She immediately looked for the guards who rushed out to fight the fire spotted them still gathered around the scene. As she expected, there were still several minutes to spare before some of the troops on sight returned in through the gate and brought higher ups out to examine the scene. She took the opening to hurriedly dash out the gate.

After the long journey back, and after she once again saw the welcome sight of her family, she decided to have a little bit of fun.

She spotted Nicole sitting next to the truck, carefully checking and rechecking her equipment. With the utmost care to not let her footsteps be noticed, Waverly snuck up behind her and kissed her on the cheek.

"What the?!" The redhead jumped, snatching her gun off the ground.

Waverly giggled.

"Really? Not the time Waves." Nicole scolded, her smile ruined the conviction in it though.

"I'm an Earp, times don't get much calmer than this." She explained as she removed the brooch, slowly forming into view.

"Fair point." Nicole conceded.

"Well, I do believe that means I'm up ladies." Doc drawled, as he too finished checking his guns.

"Here you go" Waverly threw him the brooch. "Don't get killed, alright?"

"My dear, I have never failed a rescue." He confidently affirmed as he caught the small bauble.

"How many rescues have you actually attempted?" She asked, honestly somewhat curious, given he was a lawman of sorts.

"Well let us not quibble over the details. Suffice to say, I have never failed."

With that dubious reassurance, he disappeared from view. Waverly could momentarily see his footsteps in the grass leading off into the distance before those too, faded from view.

Waverly sat down beside her girlfriend on the grass and leaned close.

"So are you ready for this? I know you've never exactly been in something as intense as this. Attacking a top secret military base and all."

Nicole just shook her head with a sort of exasperated smile.

"Neither have you, Waverly. You all may talk tough about being an Earp, and I've seen enough to know it is crazy as all hell, but you've never done anything like this. You don't have to try to sell yourself as Wynonna, if I wanted her I would have said so."

Many things passed through Waverly's mind, ways that she could answer Nicole.

She could tell her how hard it was not to compare herself to Wynonna. How everyone else including—especially—her parents looked to either of her older sisters for anything. Whether good or bad, whether they loved them or hated them, people always looked to her sisters. Or even how lost she felt without Wynonna. That maybe she was sometimes resentful of her older sister, but mainly she just missed her.

Waverly didn't say any of those things.

Instead, she pulled Nicole into a kiss.

A shocked Nicole didn't even try to hold her balance when their lips connected, leaving Waverly to fall on her back with Nicole on top of her. After a moment stunned though, the redhead rapidly recovered and took eagerly to the kiss. Soon, they found themselves idly exploring each other in the grass.

"Well, I do believe that is a job well done." The voice of Doc Holliday suddenly broke into their revery. "We do need to hurry. I would reckon we have fifteen minutes, give or take, until they start reinforcing. That is, if I read their maps correctly."

"Well that is amazing!" They heard Wynonna **very** conspicuouslyshout from the other side of the pickup. "You cleated the way that quickly and scouted their maps? We are very ready. Because we were **all** getting ready while you were gone. Not doing _other things._ "

Waverly and Nicole got the hint and separated. The hurriedly fixed their clothes and came around to the other side of the truck.

"Okay.." Doc drew out the word as he saw them emerge into view. He stared suspiciously, but more at Wynonna for the game she was playing than the two of them. The eldest Earp winked at them as she saw them appear.

"Yep, see? All ready. Let's do this."

"Let's." Nicole agreed with a nod.

The four of them checked their guns, exchanged looks to ensure each of them was ready, and marched towards the base.

* * *

 **Please read, review, and pass it along. And, of course, yearn in the depths of your very soul for Wynonna Earp Season 3.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry that this took SO long. I got a new job, life got ahead of me. This story was meant to hold me over until season 2, now the real world is up into season 3. I doubt any of you are still following me, but heck, here's to you anyway. You'll spot a few familiar faces this chapter, including my favorite one-episode-hero.**

 **P.S. #ImStillCrying. #DollsCantBeGone #BringHimBack**

* * *

.

When the quartet arrived at the base, they saw numerous lying either dead or incapacitated (none of the others felt like asking Doc which it was) and the gate open.

"Hot shit! You don't mess around." Wynonna said with enthusiasm as she span around, marveling at Doc's work.

"It's not much a challenge when they can't see you anyway. Fortunately for you, I was never one to insist on a fair fight."

"Well don't worry, I'm sure you'll have enough of those too."

The whole group rushed into the same building Waverly had entered earlier and scoured it for a way down. Wynonna and Doc wordlessly slipped into a routine where he would kick down a door, dodge to the side, and she would flip in to catch anyone inside off guard. This went for four doors before they found a stairwell down.

The stairwell led to a metal door which was, perhaps strangely, unlocked. On the other side, bleak concrete tunnels stretched to both the left and right.

"I know this is going to sound like the dumbest idea ever, but we should split up and find him as quick as possible. These asshole head honchos at Black Badge mean business, they're not going to just lie down and let us do this without some kind of asshole backup plan." Wynonna said as she cautiously peered down each corridor.

"Waves, you and Nicole go that way." She pointed to the right. "Me and Doc will head this way."

Waverly and Nicole both nodded and headed down the corridor. Wynonna quickly dashed down her direction, with Doc right behind her, until she reached the first door; a plain cold steel door with a simple handle that did not even appear to have a lock.

She hunched beside the door, and gestured with her gun for Doc to follow in after her. After taking a deep breath and preparing herself for what might be on the other side, she burst through the door.

The room appeared to be a mundane storage place, which was essentially what Wynonna was expecting, she could hardly imaging many rooms that would not have a lock down here. Of course that meant it was likely useless, but you never know what you might find…

Especially, when trying to break a prisoner out with no actual plan for opening a cell.

She didn't have long to take stock of the room though as, only the barest moment after entering, a box was flung across the floor into the door, slamming it shut and jamming it under the knob.

"What the fu-?!"

She tried to spot who, or what, flung the box as quickly as possible while diving for cover, but never made it. A sudden weight crushed down on her shoulders as a pair of legs wrapped around her neck and she began to collapse to the ground.

Wynonna Earp was not so easily brought down, however. Instead of stumbling over, she flung forward into the momentum of her attacker, bringing them both to the ground, but throwing them off of her. As they both rolled back to a standing position, she finally got a glimpse of her attacker.

The assailant looked to be a young blonde woman. Slim, incredibly fit, she was wearing black tights and a tight black top with long slits open up the sides. Her long hair was tied back.

"Ninja chic? Where do assassins find their fashion? 'Cause I need some sweet deals on 'deadly but hot' couture."

"I like to think of it as being more the confidence than the clothes." The woman smirked as the elder Earp readied herself for another attack. "Wynonna Earp, is it? Unfortunately, as much as I would love an excuse to hop on and give you another ride, Victoria told me to expect you. I'm here to help free Dolls."

"What?" Wynonna lowered her arms, shocked at the revelation that someone else had been working towards the same goal. "Who is Dolls to you?"

"My partner." The woman bluntly replied. "Dolls was my partner at Black Badge."

"Your…-What?!" Wynonna was extremely taken aback by this discovery.

"Look, my name's Eliza. I am, or was, a Black Badge Special Agent assigned to work with Xavier Dolls. And we need to get the hell out of here right now, because a strike team is already en-route to be air-dropped here and wipe out all intruders-and prisoners." The blonde launched into a rapid fire explanation as she kicked the box free from the door, which Doc could already be heard pounding on to attempt it open during their entire conversation.

"Okay, yeah." Wynonna shrugged. "Works for me."

Doc burst into the room and pointed his gun at Eliza.

"Well, that was easy." The blonde seemed surprised at how readily the Earp trusted her. "Whoah Cowboy! No need to go waving guns around."

"It's alright Doc." She nodded towards her partner. "I don't have time to figure out if you're honest or not." She addressed Eliza. "I need to find Dolls, if you betray me, I'll deal with that when it comes. Either way though, this probably gets resolved more quickly."

"Well then, I have no idea what just went on, but if our intention is to conduct this operation quickly, I do believe we should move." He then resumed moving down the hallway.

* * *

Meanwhile, Waverly and Nicole followed their hall in the opposite direction. They too, stopped to open the first door they encountered.

"This could be the place." Nicole observed, as she carefully aimed her gun around the room.

It was clearly a laboratory of sort; papers, computers, and scientific equipment lined tables. However, the edge of the room to the right of the door was lined with clear glass cells. Subjects were most definitely held in this room.

Both women cautiously entered the room eying the cells to check for prisoners.

"Why are they all empty? This base was clearly operational." Nicole pondered.

"And where are the scientists?" Waverly added. "I just met a cute one upstairs when I was lowering the wards."

"Wait, cute?" Nicole looked at Waverly curiously and cocked her brow.

"No! No, no. 'Cute' in a dorky friend kind of way. Not in a sexy way. Like, not at all. Ew." A flustered Waverly reassured her girlfriend.

"That's a relief. I was hoping mad scientist wasn't your type. I don't think I can fill that one." Nicole said with a bemused look.

While they were talking the two continued to explore the room. Nicole carefully peered at the areas around several of the tables.

"The workers here didn't just peacefully evacuate. The evidence is more subtle than I would expect from a massacre, but something bad went down here. Look a these." Nicole explained, gesturing to a small series of gouges on one of the desks, largely obscured by papers until Nicole brushed them aside. "Those are definitely fresh. And there are a few bloodstains on the ground, far less than I would expect from whatever made those gouges."

Waverly attentively watched Nicole's explanation at first. At the end however, she suddenly looked towards Nicole and raised her shotgun.

"What?!" The redhead tried to pivot around confused.

The Earp girl fired with a deafening bang.

"I think I just found what happened to the scientists." She pointed at the ground behind a stunned Nicole.

The redhead finished turning around and saw a body. It was a strange shriveled creature, like a human, but twisted and shrunken. Clad over its wrinkled, leathery body were the shredded remains of a lab coat.

"What the hell were they keeping in here?" She questioned in shock.

"I think this is a Ghul. That scientist I mentioned earlier warned me to look out for them." Waverly responded.

"Whatever it is, it looks like it was once one of the scientists. These things are probably contagious. Just to be safe, make damn sure they don't touch you. " Nicole cautioned. "Really, now it's zombies." She then mumbled under her breath.

"We should get moving." Waverly suggested. "We don't know if these things could reach Dolls before we do."

"Right." Nicole nodded.

The pair quickly moved out back into the hallway. Waverly thought she heard a scratching from behind Nicole. Spinning around, she saw one of the creatures attempting to knock out a small ventilation shaft near the ceiling, far too small for a normal human to crawl through. She immediately did exactly as she had back in the lab and fired at it over Nicole's shoulder.

"Coming out from the right!" Nicole shouted, nearly directly in her face, before firing her own gun over Waverly's shoulder.

"More of them coming!" The Earp girl shouted frantically.

More Ghuls began bursting open doors and spilling into the hallway. Some of the beasts wore the tattered remains of lab coats, some the same Black Badge uniforms as the guards above, others wore nothing but the many deep scars and gouges all of these creatures bore.

The two women were already facing opposite directions towards each other, and so reacted by immediately continuing to fire down the hallway. They were nearly face-to-face as they took aim and shot at the charging creatures.

Whatever these undead abominations were, they clearly weren't significantly tougher than humans. As the two of them fired down the hallway, the creatures readily fell to their bullets. Waverly began to feel confident as their numbers thinned.

"Up high." Nicole didn't need to shout, considering their position. Waverly couldn't see what she was referring to, but she rapidly figured out what her partner what she was warning her about.

The creatures changed tactic. Suddenly, they started embedding their claws in the walls and pulling themselves up. Soon the monsters were crawling along the walls and ceiling. This made it considerably harder to just fire down the hallway and keep dropping them.

Nicole leaned in close and spoke into Waverly's ear to be heard over the noise. The feel of her lover's breath on her skin nearly distracted Waverly from continuing to massacre the undead.

"On the count of three, we need to make a break down the hall. Fire as fast as you can, and be ready to use your gun to force them back. Fighting them all from one direction should be easy."

"One…" She paced the counts between shots.

"Two.." Waverly tried to steel herself, looking into Nicole's eyes for confirmation. The redhead slightly nodded.

"Three." Nicole was surprisingly calm in voicing the final count, her police training clearly showing through.

Waverly spun around, forcing herself to ignore the abominations closing in on her girlfriend's back, and ran; straight into the horde who were just moments ago closing in on her own.

They combined their fire. Forcing down the hall by brute force and a hail of bullets to reach the next door.

"Gah!" Waverly shouted as one of the (re)dying creatures made a surprise lunge at her from the ground. Nicole was forced to cover her as the Earp girl beat it off with the butt of her shotgun. The moment it was off of her, they both tumbled through the nearest door.

The Ghuls continued to rush at them, but now that they were being forced to funnel through a doorway finishing them off was easy.

Waverly turned to Nicole after the last creature fell.

"Did we just have a romantic 'stare into each other's eyes while shooting past each other' moment?"

"I know. It was so Fury Road." The redhead laughed. "Now come on, we don't have any time to spare."

The two rushed out of the room and down the hall again.

* * *

"The temporary holding cells are this way."

Eliza was guiding Doc and Wynonna down the hallway.

"Temporary cells?" Wynonna questioned as the continued to rush.

"A prisoner like Dolls is going to be transferred to our Black Site in the Balkans. The temporary cells are just glorified cages in the unloading dock." The blonde responded, just before the trio arrived at a door.

Eliza pushed up against the heavy, locked metal door first, gesturing the others to stay quiet. She quickly stuck something against the backside of the knob and waited with her ear pressed to the door.

Even from their farther distance away, Doc and Wynonna could faintly hear voices coming from behind the door. After only a few moments of listening Eliza stepped away from the door, gesturing for them to follow suit, and somehow set off whatever she had attached to the knob. The result was a small, but violent, explosion, completely flinging the door off its hinges.

The blonde rushed in first, before the smoke had even cleared. Wynonna and Doc where not far behind, however, and once they crossed into the room-and saw Eliza had somehow vaulted onto a guard to straddle him around the neck with her legs to fling him to the ground using her weight—they joined the attack immediately. Wynonna charged the first guard to lift his gun at Eliza, kicking him in the crotch and swinging a strong right-hook to knock him down while he was staggered.

Doc took a more direct approach, shooting the other guards in his line of sight who had started to react down where they stood.

Once Eliza had dispatched her first target she back-flipped across the room, landing on her hands right in front of Wynonna, and performed a split kick to drop the last two guards. Of course, this also had the effect of spreading herself out in her uniquely tight outfit right in front of Wynonna's face.

"You always fight that sexy?" The Earp sister skeptically asked, seeing that the fight was effectively over.

"Only when I'm fighting with a pretty girl to impress." The blonde smiled as she flipped back onto her feet.

"This is really going to keep happening, isn't it?" Wynonna muttered, shaking her head in disbelief.

Even as the spoke though, they were already taking stock of the room. There were actually three exits besides the one the came in from, one on each wall of the bleak, cube shaped room. Eliza pointed to the one across from the way they came.

"That way."

Doc and Wynonna acknowledged her instruction and moved to the next door.

* * *

"Up high!"

Nicole and Waverly were cautiously moving through the hallways, continuously warning each other when more of the ravenous creatures tore out of another vent or burst out a doorway.

Finally, as Nicole put a bullet through the next charging threat, they bumped into the door at the end of the hallway, and quickly pushed into the next room, closing it behind them.

It took a few moments for it to register just who was standing in the room with them as they recovered from their long run.

"Wynonna?"

"Waves?"

"These tunnels connect in a loop then. No luck finding Dolls?" Nicole surmised.

"Nope. Anything on your end?" Wynonna, Doc, and Eliza were just leaving the room when the other two stumbled in.

"Just flesh eating undead, so nothing out of the ordinary." The redheads shrugged.

"So, I'm the one who has to ask who the bad-ass lady ninja is?" Waverly spoke up,

"That's Eliza. Dolls' surprisingly hot former BBD partner." Wynonna replied. "She's here to help us find him. Or betray us and lead us all into a trap. I didn't have time to figure it out."

"That's nice. I'm Waverly. Now we might want to get out of here before the swarms of undead reach us."

The others quickly agreed a rushed through the next door.

The room on the other side was large, far larger than they expected. It appeared to be some sort of warehouse; the entire area was stacked with boxes up to the ceiling leaving only small passageways between the crates.

"This is the loading bay." Eliza explained. "The cells are nothing more than cages kept in here."

"We need to keep this quick. Fan out and search the area." Wynonna ordered, plunging ahead herself to find Dolls. The others followed suit, each cautiously taking their own path, weapons at the ready.

The paths, as they were, through the crates and boxes were confusing at best, and downright dangerous at worst. Waverly found herself having to duck and weave between out of place containers, and even outright junk that, apparently, no one felt the need to properly store.

" _It's nice to be alone again. With you."_

" _Oh come on. You're really back at it again? I had hoped you'd given up."_ Waverly was irked to here the voice in her head. She was determined to keep moving and ignore it though.

" _You didn't actually think you could win, did you? In any case, it doesn't matter. Just go about your rescue, I'm just looking for something. Nothing that should interfere with your little raid."_

" _Good, then try being quiet for a change."_

Waverly was quite thankful that for once the demon possessing her seemed to listen. Content, she continued through the warehouse.

* * *

Wynonna cautiously looked around every corner as she pushed through, determined to find her goal. It wasn't long before she saw another shadowy form moving between the corridors. She quickly moved to intercept the route it seemed to be taking, when she heard it just around the corner, she spun around the boxes, gun first.

"Eliza." She immediately recognized the figure.

"Are you surprised? This place is big, but not nearly big enough for five people to move around without bumping into each other." The blonde observed. "Now come on, I'm pretty sure I know where to go."

Wynonna found herself running through the boxes at full speed, having to keep up with Eliza's purposeful movements. Soon though, she was waved to a stop. Peering through the darkness, she saw the boxes ended, opening into a large, illuminated clearing. Two guards in body armor like the others she had fought, and one very large, pallid man in a black suit were standing there. The light seemed to be natural, there must have been an opening out of sight.

"Jesus man! We've got to get the Hell out of here! The experiments are all running rampant, and It's still not time for pickup! That means backup could still be an hour away!" One of the guards pleaded to the other, clearly panicking.

"No. We hold the prisoner until pickup. That is our order." The huge man responded in a deep, rumbling, and entirely unnatural sounding voice.

"Fuck this, man! I'm going. They can court marshal me later!" The panicking guard ran off towards the light.

The strange suited man pulled a gun and shot him in nary a moment.

"Christ you freak!" The other guard screamed. "Oh man. I am fucked." He shook his head, clearly resigned to his doom.

"Three… Two… One…" Eliza drew her gun, and slowly counted down. Wynonna understood and readied herself.

The moment she finished saying one, Eliza burst into the clearing, gunning down the mundane guard, and firing four rounds into the strange one. Wynonna was unsurprised, but sorely disappointed when he didn't drop.

"What the hell is that thing?!" She cried out, hoping for an easy answer.

"A golem, Black Badge uses them to hold difficult points and keep other soldiers in line. I'll try to keep him occupied, try to deal with him quickly!"

"Deal with him how exactly?" The elder Earp tried shooting it in the head, considering it was making no effort to dodge. As expected, that had no affect at all.

"I don't know! I've never killed one. Killing weird shit is your thing. I was mainly recon." The blonde desperately dodged the behemoths fire, shooting uselessly into it.

"Oh. That's a great bomb to drop on the first date." She grumbled, re-sheathing Peacemaker in her boot and looking for another option.

"Ooh! So this is a date. I should have brought my formal guns. With these 9mm I might as well have worn Crocs" Eliza charged headlong at the golem.

"Well, you do know what a lady likes."

The blonde impacted the giant man. He didn't even flinch. A moment after her body impacted his with a dull thud, he grabbed her, lifted her into the air, and swatted her aside with a sickening crunch.

"I'm okay!" She groaned out after hitting the ground. "Just a broken rib. Agh!" She crumpled back down the moment she tried to sit up. "Or three."

"Over here!"

Just as Wynonna started to really panic, she heard a familiar male voice.

"Dolls?!" She looked off to the right end of the clearing, which she had never examined to to the considerable distraction of fighting an artificial human monster, and saw a crude barred cage against the wall. In it, was an equally familiar face.

"Bring it over here!" He whisper-shouted.

"Okay, fine!"

Wynonna assessed the situation. The golem was moving towards Eliza, clearly with the intention of finishing her off.

"Yeah, That's cool. While you're doing that, I'mma let that prisoner out. Cool?" She loudly shouted over to the being before heading towards Dolls.

The golem's response was immediate. It turned around in a rage, and began a lumbering charge towards her with surprising speed. Wynonna dashed for the cage. For all her energy, she was barely able to fling her body against the wall past the cage ahead of its charge.

Facing away, all she heard at first was a slight snarl. Then, almost immediately, a sound something like a furnace running at full blast right beside her head.

By the time she turned back around, all that was left was a pile of simultaneously oozing and ashen burnt clay, and a yellow eyed, snarling Xavier Dolls grabbing at the bars of his prison.

"Oookay… Dolls, did they-uh- _do_ something to you?" The Earp was more than a little shocked.

"Oh fuck. Yeah, that's gonna leave a mark." Eliza rolled with an agonized groan onto her side. "Hey, D! Did you seriously not tell her?!" She shouted across the floor.

Rather than respond, Wynonna's trusted companion, now prisoner, continued to snarl and wrestle with his cage.

"Dammit, would even those assholes really take you off your meds? Come on D, snap out of it!" The blonde called over to Dolls, now sounding desperate.

Wynonna's face started to show her concern that this was something very serious.

"I don't know what you're going through Dolls, but I do know this isn't you. You are a strong, intelligent, and incredibly sexy, man. And most of all, you're a part of our family Dolls, not a dog for Black Badge to train. So I know you are strong enough to overcome this."

Wynonna slowly crept towards the cage as she pleaded with the reptilian eyed agent within.

At first, Dolls continued to growl and shake at his prison. Once he truly caught sight of Wynonna, however, his sounds of rage began to subside.

"Once he uses his power, it's almost impossible to regain control. Only the drugs make him human again. If they haven't been supplying him, then I don't know how he held on long enough to help us even." Eliza was still struggling to sit up, or crawl towards them. With another pained groan though, she gave up and laid down once again.

"Just… go Wynonna. It's not safe…" Dolls managed to regain enough control to slowly speak through gritted teeth.

"Like fuck I'm going without you. Freaky fire breathing or not, you are my boss, and we are leaving together, or we ain't leaving at all."

By the time Wynonna finished speaking, she was already looking for how to open the cage.

"Waves! Nicole! Doc! Over here!" She shouted to the others for help.

* * *

Waverly continued to work her way through the warehouse.

"Just how big is this place anyway?" She mumbled.

She ducked, crawled, and twisted through more of the towering piles of crates strewn across the floor. She noticed that a few of the ones in this section were broken open, their contents removed and in some cases strewn around the floor or lying on adjacent crates.

" _Looks like they wanted to take some things with them."_ She thought to herself.

Waverly tried to move through the area without delay, feeling rather uncomfortable around the unusual, and often disconcerting objects around her. Before she quite got out of the area though, her eyes were drawn to a strange pendant sitting atop a box. It was gold, the shape looked somewhat like a star at first sight, but under closer examination it looked more like a cluster of completely random points or spikes coming from a central point than a normal star. In the center of those spikes was a deep, black jewel.

" _Pick it up."_ The voice in her head spoke again. A simple command.

" _What? No!"_ She protested.

" _Pick it up."_

" _No"_ Waverly tried to move on, but her feet faltered.

" _Pick it up."_

" _Pick it up."_

" _Pick it up…"_

* * *

"Waverly! Nicole! Doc! Over here!"

The younger Earp heard the shout, her sister's words breaking her out of the daze she didn't even know she was in.

"What just happened?" She mumbled as she took stock of her surroundings. Seeing the same broken crates she last remembered finding, she rushed towards Wynonna's voice. There wasn't time to figure it out.

It only took a few moments running full speed to emerge from the crates and see Wynonna stand by Dolls' cage.

"You found him? He's alright? And what happened to her?" She looked over at Eliza. Emerging fully into the clearing, she saw Doc arrived before her, and Nicole was just arriving.

"S'aright. Taken worse." The blonde murmured.

"Help me open this cage!" The elder Earp pleaded.

"I brought slugs, they'll take that lock right off." Nicole offered. "Could you give me the shotgun Waves?"

Waverly immediately handed her the gun. She loaded the thick metal rounds.

"Everyone stay back."

She held the gun a few inches from the lock and fired. There was a loud report, and then a clattering sound of the lock falling to the ground.

Dolls fell to the ground outside the cage. He was still gasping and clearly struggling to control his transformation.

"It's okay. We've got you Dolls, you're safe." Wynonna instantly rushed to his side and tried to help him up.

"You aren't though. You've got to go." He painfully groaned out.

"And we are partner." Doc drawled as he walked up and hoisted Dolls onto his shoulder. "But you're a damn fool if you think you're not comin' with us."

"Now I think it's time to get the hell out of here." Wynonna pointed out. "Before the pickup those poor assholes were waiting for actually arrives."

"Can you move?" Nicole moved over to Eliza and kneeled beside her to check her condition.

"Well, I can move between 'curled up in pain' and 'splayed out in pain', but pretty much everything else is out." The blonde replied.

Nicole pulled up the blonde's shirt and examined her injury.

"Three ribs are badly fractured. Two are likely broken. This kind of injury is as likely as not fatal without rapid treatment. I can probably walk you back to the surface without puncturing a lung, but the ride back is going to be the real challenge." She gently explained her assessment.

"Hey, just give it your best Red." Eliza smiled confidently, although she was obviously in a great deal of pain, she didn't seem overly concerned. "I'm a bit tougher than you think."

"Alright." Nicole shrugged. At this point, a miraculous recovery wouldn't really surprise her. "Waverly, could you grab her other arm?"

"Huh? Yeah, okay." The younger Earp seemed a little distracted, but moved to do as asked.

"Oh." The blonde grunted as she was hoisted up incredibly carefully. "In the middle of two hotties. My favorite position."

"Yeah, maybe Wynonna should have handled this." Nicole said.

"No thank you." The older Earp retorted.

The whole group slowly and carefully backtracked through the complex. With all of them together, there was no substantial threat on the way out. Only a few _ghul_ s, which Doc easily handled.

Soon enough, they found themselves back on the surface. They agreed to wait by the base while Wynonna drove the truck to them so as not to strain the already badly injured Eliza more.

They all piled into the truck and began the drive back to town.

"When did you get that, Baby-girl?" Wynonna noticed a strange amulet nestled in Waverly's shirt

"Huh? What?" Waverly looked confused.

"That necklace. It ain't your style." She pointed to the piece.

Nicole took a look, already concerned about what was going on with her girlfriend.

"You didn't have that going in." The cop observed, now a little unsettled.

"What are you all talking about. I don't go putting on strange jewelry." Waverly chuckled.

She fumbled with her shirt, grabbing the gold and black necklace.

"What is this?" She stared quizzically at it.

" _A gateway."_

"Uh, Waves?"

"Baby?"

Waverly could faintly hear the voices of her friends, and lover, trying to reach her. It was all very distant though. Faint, and fading fast. The world just seemed to slowly disappear into the amulet.

" _We can finally meet now, Waverly."_

* * *

 ** _Season 3 What What! Well, if you are reading this, please drop me a review. I'd love to hear from you._**


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